Blogs from Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

HANMER SPRINGS Von Akaroa aus wollten wir eigentlich gegen Sueden. Also die ganze Suedregion der Suedinsel zuerst bereisen und dann weiter Richtung Norden. Das Wetter hat aber diese Meinung nicht wirklich mit uns geteilt. Na ja, wer will den schon mit dem Regensack (Regencombi) auf dem Toeff Ferien machen. Zudem ist die gebirgige Landschaft (Southern Alps) sicherlich die kaeltere Region als der Norden oder gar die Nordinsel gegen den Aequator. Ebenfalls sind Bergregionen hoeher gelegen und delhalb auch kaelter als Sandstrand Regionen. Schnee muss ja nicht unbedingt sein, oder wie sieht das in der Schweiz so aus? Well, somit haben wir uns halt entschieden erst das Noerdliche zu erkunden. Der Arthurs Pass ist die Verbindung von Chch an der East Coast zur West Coast. Es ist ein Pass welcher erstens zum Toefffahren sehr schoen ist aber ... read more

Our day started with an early morning walk along Picton's waterfront and marina, where we seen the Inter Island ferry off on its voyage to the North Island. It was very encouraging to see a clear sunny sky after the rain and overcast conditions yesterday. After an hour or so it was time to begin our journey down the east coast. A short drive from Picton is Blenheim, the Marlbrough district largest town. The area which surrounds the town is well known as a centre of New Zealand's wine industry. It enjoys one of New Zealand’s sunniest climates, with hot, relatively dry summers and crisp winters. On the outskirts of the town we stopped at one of the many wineries in the area where we had some delicious breakfast in the restaurant, and picked up some ... read more

We took off for our second weekend camping jaunt - this time to Hanmer Springs for the Labour Day long weekend. We arrived at the 'Top Ten' camp-site on the Saturday afternoon and the weather was fantastic - the sun was shining and we needed to set up our new 'beach shelter' in order to escape the heat. We anticipated having to sleep outside that night due to the tropical conditions... After a quick jaunt into town for lunch and to pick up some supplies we headed back to finish setting up camp just as the rain started. Someone had joked that snow was forecast but we didn't believe it. That evening we headed back into town to spend the evening in our favourite Hanmer pub and watched our province, Canterbury, win the Air New Zealand ... read more

In an effort to get away and enjoy as much of New Zealand as we can during our short stay, we took off for an overnight to Hanmer Springs. It was a five hour drive but we made several stops along the way. Our first stop was to visit Cookie World. We bought way too many bags of broken cookies and Bumper Bars. They did give us lots to nibble on over the weekend. We then stopped at an outlet mall - our first mall visit and our first outlet store. I think it about did Gregg in - He tolerates shopping on his own, but not with us! We were able to get Syd new ski pants and some ski gloves for her and Graham, before Gregg forced us all back in the car. We ... read more

Day 2 After breakfast, went with Ruby for a walk in the district near our Hotel. We noticed a impressive Clock Tower near a major intersection. A few blocks away, we came upon the Avon River. The Avon river basically runs through the city of Christchurch, eventually running into the sea at Sunmner. We went as far as the bridge (which is one of the entrances to the Botanic Gardens), then we went back to the Hotel. Around 10:00 am we left the Hotel for a 185 km drive to Hanmer Springs (My sister & families & my Mum & Dad had other plans for the day). The drive out of Christchurch was quite easy. As the population is only just over 400,000 there is not too much traffi... read more