Tuesday, 2 January
Here we go again - and once again thank you to everyone that's liked, shared and commented, it's much appreciated. I can confirm - just in case you were not sure that we are having a fabulous time. It's everything I hoped it would be - and more.
Sandra:
Today we were heading out of Christchurch, slightly north and west to the famous Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools Resort – think of Bath’s Thermae Spa, (we visited last year) or the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, (I visited that many years ago). It was a part of the holiday that I was really looking forward to as I find the waters very helpful with my movement and pain control.
First, however, we had to complete the Christchurch Gondola trip – fingers crossed it was operating today – phew yes it was. There was still a little breeze but nothing compared to the previous few days.
As I drove up to the entrance for about a mile along the road, going in the opposite direction were coaches and buses full to the brim – alarm bells started ringing, was there a cruise ship in port in Lyttleton? Equally, the Gondola is probably the nearest attraction to the ship. Richard perused his marine tracking app and indeed the Royal Princess was in port. Fortunately, we arrived around 09.30 and it was very quiet indeed, the counter staff said we had timed it just right. There were loads of taping out to separate the passengers in to an orderly queue. We were grateful indeed that we had made it an early stop.
It was beautiful and the views for miles. A couple of alarming moments when it swayed a bit but all was well.
It was an introduction to cruising that probably halted our trips downunder. For a number of years we took cruises regularly – saw parts of the world that we’d probably never get to see otherwise – and I had an excuse to dress up – like I need one now, but I did back then. I well remember the rush to the gangway or tender on port days. It’s something I’d like to do again, sometime.
Sandra:
Afterwards we set off north again tracing our steps and noting that the café we had stopped at on the way down was nowhere to be seen. We did, however, find a lovely shady spot for lunch, with loos at a recreation area just off the SH7. It was a lovely easy drive – across the plain and up the short run to Hanmer Springs – more of that to come.
A few miles outside of Hanmer we turned off onto the SH7a and crossed the Waiau Uwha river. Here you can go jet boating, kayaking and the like. You can also get thrown off the Ferry Bridge with a bungy attached to your ankles. We paused at a viewing point to see a brave soul/muppet do just that.
Our motel was probably the first or last out of town depending on which direction you were coming from, having a car was not an issue and a quieter location got a thumbs up from both of us. I can confirm that the first night you could hear a pin drop again and the motel was full. The motel is very clean, tidy and very up-to-date – the only drawback, which we had not realised on booking, it only has very basic facilities in the kitchen. What there is here is good just not the cooker we have grown accustomed too. Meat went straight into the freezer along with the packs and two nights freezing will help as we should be able to cook again in Greymouth – our next stop in a couple of days’ time.
So, we looked at the menu of the bar/restaurant attached to the motel – a big clue there!! We opted to eat here, a 10 yard stroll across the car park from our motel room would do the job, or so we thought. Well, to be fair, the food was good WHEN we got it. They obviously have serious staff shortages, both front of house and behind in the kitchens, the wait for food, for the few people that were in was very lengthy and then the waiter forgot to order our garlic bread which we had asked for as a starter. Fortunately, we were both having pasta carbonara so eating the two together was not as awkward as it might have been. We enjoyed the food and, as a matter of course, asked for the dessert menu. It was very limited and ice cream portion at NZ$18 – the answer was an immediate no thank you.
Yes, there was quite a wait for the food, in fact there was a wait for the table too even though they were not busy, but it was certainly worth it when it came. As per, a decent sized portion and, with the garlic bread and a couple of ‘pints,’ it was enough for me in any case. A pint here is not the exact measure that you’d perhaps expect, in fact it can mean anything from around 400ml to an actual pint – 568ml. It’s just how they do it here. Nothing remotely resembling an ale here so lager it was.
Hanmer Springs is essentially a village – in the Alpine style in the foothills of some mountains – in the middle of nowhere – the nearest town is a good 2-3 hours’ drive away. As a result you are in a ‘hostage’ situation as regards supplies and food being one of them. Whilst we expected to pay a premium for being here, there is a limit.
We strolled back, a little TV and crossword and we were soon asleep. Tomorrow is Thermal Pool Day – essentially the main reason for visiting here really.
Todays journey:
Wednesday, 3 January 2024
We awoke to our usual cuppa, our own breakfast in the room – the kitchen allows us to do that. The pool did not open until 10am, so we decided we would make our way up there about 09.50. We were able to get our parking spot close to the entrance as planned, there was already something of a queue but not excessive. They were soon separating the queue into two, those with pre-purchased tickets and those without. Suffice it to say the former was longer but quicker moving. What slowed us down was we still had to pay for locker time. We could have also had towels too – we had brought our own. Shame that we could not have booked that when doing the on-line reservation some months ago.
We found our locker, Richard was able to take some photos before the pools filled up with people, whilst I got changed. Once we were both set up, it was time to dip a toe in the first pool – a blissful 40C+ full of minerals and silica. Oh the bliss when you stepped in, your skin tingles and my pains started to ease straightaway. We sat there in companiable silence soaking it up. Sadly, I had read the notices/rules so any attempts at trying to drown Richard, (jokingly of course), were to nought – no matter, the challenge is still on as other motels have pools (he he).
The mineral pool in particular was superb – the last time I was here – have I mentioned I’ve been to New Zealand before – was after horse-riding, my one and only time on the back of a horse. After having my legs apart for so long the soak in the pool was ideal….
Sandra:
We then moved into the jacuzzi style pool – they have a variety of jet/showers/waterfalls around the edge that you can sit under – I enjoyed them all, except for the shower one which was very forceful and stung a fair bit. It was also a little cooler – only a little mind, so made a nice change. After this we went walkabout and took in the more family and children, also big children area with massive log flumes and water rides. I had been following their web-page for a while and over their winter they had replaced several of the activities with much larger ones. Given the amount of people in there this was a good move. Sadly, the queues were too long to wait and Richard decided to give it a miss.
It was time for a coffee and a cake – there is a central restaurant and café area – our usual fare taken we ambled back to the hotter pool again for another soak – the sun was now coming out and we were concerned about sunburn. Another session in the aquatherapy pool and we decided to call it a day. Quick showers and changes saw us heading back to the motel to cool down and re-hydrate and have our lunch.
We then headed out for a preamble around the village but first a short drive to the Hanmer Springs Forest – no real views and obviously big hiking and mountain biking territory. We turned round and headed into the village – a quick look in a couple of shops – we found a restaurant and booked a table for dinner and a cold drink. Since coming out of the pools this morning I have probably drank around 3 pints of cold liquid – this is usual and is a result of being in the hot pools. We also picked up some supplies, including a 10% proof stout for Richard – eek!
Back to the motel for a bit of a rest and catch up with the blog.
We returned to the restaurant for our dinner – as it was Wednesday it was buy one, get one free off the Hot Stone menu. Now you may remember, not long after we arrived in the North of the Island – Paihia, I had a beautiful lamb steak cooked on one of these hot stones – something of a surprise first time round but not this time. I opted for a pork loin wrapped in bacon, very moist and delicious. Richard, being Richard had to opt for the ‘Challenge’ – a 400g piece of steak which you cooked on the hot stone as with the others. We had a lovely meal and it was obviously very well patronised as all the tables were full. The BOGOF deal made what would have otherwise been a very expensive meal, much more realistic. This was followed by a Crème Brule for me and a Strawberry Cheesecake with ice cream for Richard. Now bearing in mind we had declared the nut allergy at the time of ordering said cheesecake – who in their right minds then sends the cheesecake out, (this did not have nuts so was fine), with the scoop of ice cream to the side on a bed of Granola (very annoying). Anyway, I swiftly removed the ice cream etc out of harms way and all was good.
To be honest it wasn’t much of a challenge, given that I still had room for a pudding, but it was very tasty indeed and well worth the money.
Thursday, 4 January 2024
Sandra:
Up at a reasonably leisurely pace – we did not have too far to go over to Greymouth on the West Coast. First up was the motel’s offering for breakfast, no washing up and a cooked offering was available too. As it was self-service, the problem of slow service were not an issue and we enjoyed a very pleasant breakfast indeed.
Car packed up and we slightly retraced our steps before picking up SH7 again and heading westward.
A straightforward run and we made good time arriving in Greymouth and our motel for the next night. We were able to cook in our apartment once more, so pork chops plus half a lamb steak each were cooked plus the usual vegetable accompaniments.
Greymouth is not an obvious tourist stop off, it’s there to primarily serve the residents of the area, however it is also home to Monteith’s brewery – whose dark beer I’ve had a couple of times. There was an attraction of interest though, Sandra describes:
We visited a historical attraction – one of very few I have seen on NZ so far – called Shantytown. The area surrounding Greymouth was very industrialised in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Coal and wood were, by some margin, the biggest producers but there was also some gold mining carried out as well. It was interesting to note that the area was clearly harking back to the Irish miners who came here, along with the Chinese. Street names, pubs etc were Irish themed throughout.
Back to Shantytown – it is a recreated village of the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s. There are shops, café, post office, bank, church, school – all the usual suspects and it was very interesting to walk down the street and look into the various shops and services that they had.
The other main part of the attraction is a little train that runs on part of the old track which used to bring wood down to the saw mill and then onto the port for export if not needed in NZ. We rode up in the train to the head of the line, disembarking to see various information boards and listen to the guard and driver. You were invited to climb up the stairs to see the engine and Richard gladly obliged by having his photo taken once more! Sadly, there was not horn to toot this time. We rejoined the train and returned to get off at the Saw Mill and see the live demonstration of a Sluice Gun.
The sluice gun is much like a er, fireman’s hose and was used to loosen hopefully gold laden gravel, which travelled down a wooden race and filtered out.
A short stroll downhill brought us back to the village, having passed loads of really interesting information boards telling you all about the lives of the various people who had lived in the village. There is no doubt that it was a very rough and tough life they led in those early days. Unfortunately, it was close to closing time and we had to move on. We had certainly had a taste of life on the West Coast at that time. Greymouth is no longer a port, apart from a few seasonal fish boats. There is talk of it being revitalised with the trade in special mineral sands in the next few years. It would certainly help the economy tremendously.
On the way back we fuelled up – again – then drove out to the Northern Breakwater for a couple of photos before a very quick look in the shopping area where I procured a Lonely Planet guide. I’ve bought a few of these in the past BC – before caravanning - and still had the New Zealand one from 1997 on my bookshelf. I’ve found them very useful in the past, my only regret being that I didn’t buy one at the beginning of the trip. Mind you, we’ve done ok without it!
Todays journey:
Friday 5th January
Heading back east today but via a different route – Arthurs Pass. The weather forecast was depressingly accurate and it rained to varying degrees for most of the journey but no matter, the scenery was still spectacular. Obviously – this is New Zealand.
Sandra took the wheel for the first stint and we paused for coffee and bladder appeasement at the atmospheric Otira Stagecoach Hotel.
I took the next bit traversing the stunning Otira Gorge, yet more tight and twisty turns but not quite as much fun in the wet!
The terrain flattened out after Arthurs Pass – we didn’t stop as most of the sights here require a decent walk – there’s not too much else to see otherwise.
A quick stop for our packed lunch and a driver swap and we were soon back in Canterbury traversing the Southern Plains – it was very flat!
Back on SH1 we crossed New Zealand’s longest bridge – it’s not as impressive as it sounds – before entering Rakaia where I was able to repeat the photo I’d taken 27 years ago. Happy memories.
Some six hours after leaving we pulled up at the Anchor Motel. We’d already decided on two nights here and the LP – Lonely Planet – confirmed our decision saying it was worth a stop. And yes, I had been here before but remember very little.
I was very taken with the motel room – look at the décor and you can see why!
A stock up at the nearby Pak n Save supermarket, then chicken and veg for dinner. Oh, and a large bottle of Porter and rather too much Merlot!
The HDMI lead was deployed, the VPN engaged and we watched a couple of
programmes on the BBC iPlayer. Again the WiFi was free – as it has been
everywhere – and good enough to stream video.
Todays journey:
