"The Simple Things"

So what's this about Hanmer Springs?

Oh, the aching tediousness that is the first day back at work after a wonderful holiday. There is very little that sucks, in the suckiest kind of way, then your first day back. Perhaps bikini waxing comes to mind, as does being left with the last chocolate in a box of Roses and realising it's a coffee creme, blurk.

Anyway, ha! So much for my ambitious plan to share my photographs with the world wide web on a daily basis; the mountainous terrain we stayed in combined with New Zealand's fourth rate internet service soon put a stop to that.

Despite my techie temper tantrums, we had a most fabulously awesome holiday, and the weather was glorious - warm and clear and perfect for taking photographs and general sightseeingness. Miss 8 loved Hanmer Springs (where we spent days 1 & 2 of our week's holiday) and would never have gotten out of the pools until I told her that her skin would wrinkle up *so* much that when she eventually did get out of the pools all her clothes would be too big for her and fall off her on the walk back to the motel. Bwah-ha-ha!

So she only spent four hours instead of eight hours in the hotpools.

The Other Harf declared Hanmer Springs his favourite also, and was able to soak his very dodgy back in the 36C pool to his heart's content.

I liked Hanmer Springs for the lovely daffodils growing under the oak trees in the main street, the crystal clear views of the Southern Alps looming above the little town and the incredibly photogenic wee lambies decorating the paddocks round the town...

(And there'll be even more photos and witty dialogue to accompany them later on this week when I regain some patience with the pensioned-off hamster speed of my home internet connection, feckin' thing)


Thanks to Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

French Bay, Akaroa

Am fully prepared to convert to a fulltime tourist.

Life is a highway

Life is a highway, originally uploaded by Fi@Kiwifruit.

Caffeine fix...

A flat white at Springs Deli Cafe, Hanmer Springs.
Next stop: Kaikoura.

Lewis Pass

Scenery galore + too many hours in thermal pools + huge dinners at local pub = three completely knackered tourists.

Alpine View Motel alpine views...

in Hanmer Springs, a tiny thermal resort town an hour and half north of Christchurch...

Touchdown

Now to find the el-cheapo car rental place...

Are we there yet?

Suitcases are packed for all weather possibilities, or in the case of Miss 8's, repacked as one really doesn't require four pinafore dresses to see the sights of Christchurch and surrounding tourist attractions.

I've just done a quick check and according to the Weather Boffins, it's going to be fine and warm in the biggest city in the South Island (pop. a whopping 414,000) when we fly in on Saturday morning - warmer than it will be here in the supposed subtropical north of the North Island.

*A dance, a dance, do a little dance*

Dorothy woz here

$9.99 at No1 Shoe Warehouse. You don't just want them; you need them.