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Published: August 26th 2008
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Day 511-512 (21.08.08 - 22.08.08)
After some manic last days in Oz we had decided we needed to have a day or so to do something really relaxing once we arrived in New Zealand and Hanmer Springs was just the place. At the foot of snow covered mountains the little town is renowned for it's thermal pools and this seemed like a perfect place for our 'chill out' time.
We checked into the pools and spent the next couple of hours relaxing in beautiful rock pools at a variety of temperatures (anywhere from about 29 - 41 degrees) as we looked on to the mountains beyond. The weather was beautiful despite being pretty chilly when we hopped between pools and we had a fantastic time.
We decided to explore the area a little more and after picking up a leaflet on local walks from the i- site (info centre) we drove up into the mountains to find a spot with some superb views of the surrounding mountain ranges in which to have our lunch. After lunch we combined a couple of walking tracks for a gentle walk thorugh some meadows, woodland and forest areas.
We'd paid for
a double entry ticket to the pools so in the late afternoon we headed back in and sat in the hot baths as the sky became dark and the stars came out above us. A great start to our time in NZ.
The next morning we picked another walk from our leaflet and donned out finest walking gear for a 'tramp' as they call it here up the Waterfall Track. We walked steadily up one side of a valley alongside the stream that flowed down it until beofre we knew it we had hit some sections of snow. Very exciting. We trudged on through the snow to the impressive waterfall at the top. From there, as we carefully picked our way back down the snow covered track we branched off on the Spur Track which took us back down to the car using the other side of the valley. There were yet more incredible vews as we traversed the side of the mountain and descended toward the car. It was a great walk and by the time we had reached the valley we were ready for a sit down and lunch!
Packing up the van we jumped back
in 'Irene' and excitedly set off on the drive to Kaikoura where we had planned to meet Mark's parents and start a 3 week travelling stretch with them. The drive over to them was however to take us a little by surprise. Starting with some stunning mountain views we continued onto the coast where we picked up the 'main' road going north. This turned into an amazing, winding road snaking and hugging the coastline all the way north to our destination. Simply beautiful and totally unexpected! Arriving in Kaikoura we drove around looking for the holiday park were we had planned to meet with Chrissie managing to spot Dad standing on the side of the road - pretty lucky since the name of the park had changed and we were in the process of careering past.
It was fantastic to see the folks again. Having not seen them in over 18 months we quickly caught up and settled into our sleeping arrangements (mum and dad in a cabin and us in the van) before going into town to check out what kaikoura had to offer and book up our activities for the next day.
After doing the organising
we got into our green van convoy (yep they also had a luminous van!) and went down to the tip of the peninsula where a colony of Fur Seals had made it home on the rocks. As soon as we stepped out of the van there were a number of massive Seals just snoozing on the rocks next to the car park and with a little wander we managed to find another pretty big family of Seals. It was great to watch them going about their everyday lives and we stayed for a little while just taking it all in. Dragging ourselves away, we went for a walk along the cliff top around the far side of the peninsula from Kaikoura town. We were about to turn around when we spotted hundreds of little black dots on the rocks below - taking a closer look it became more obvious that they were all Seals!
A quick supermarket stop and we went back to the camp site where dad knocked up a fantastic steak dinner washed down with a couple of beers and wine to celebrate the start of our travells together. Mum was quick to point out that steak
dinners were 'not something they do every day' - we took note!
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Dad
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Strange Parcel
You'll be pleased to hear that Nora's number plate has arrived - wheres the rest of her?