Blogs from Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 7

12.12.05 Today after breakfast we played some more table tennis because it is raining again as it has been for the last few days, and then drove into town and went on the net. We had another e-mail from the person interested in our van and it's looking promising. In the afternoon we went to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Reserve. These are pools with natural hot water with various minerals and temperatures but set in an unnatural, touristy scene. They were all outside in the rain, but it was still good. They had pools ranging from 30 degrees to 41. The water actually comes out of the ground at 54 degrees before it's cooled down and filtered through earth. It cost $10pp for as long as you wanted, we had a couple of hours. They had ... read more

My good kiwi friend ngaire told me that a great place to visit while in NZ is the hot pools of Hanmer Springs. So, after a few minor adjustments we added it to our itinerary. Once we were awake in Punakaiki, we packed Sunny with our adventure packs (who acquired some rather affectionate nicknames while on the road..i.e Mine is "Big red" and rachels is "the Jolly green Giant" and Lauren's borrowed pack from Liz = "Ol blue") and checked out of the Beach Hostel. We were on the road again, and headed for some more fun filled adventures. Before leaving the Paparoa National Park, we stopped to take a walk down the Truman Track which led us through a rainforest to this pebbly, and rocky beach on the tasman Sea. Walking down the track, i ... read more