Hanmer Springs – Scenery & Thrills

Neither of us had been here before and were really taken with the beauty of the town and the whole area.  The first thing we asked ourselves was why we were only staying 2 nights.  The thermal pool complex is excellent and leaves Waiwera and Parakai wallowing in the dust.  Our accommodation was half way up Conical Hill so the views were overwhelming.  Linz loved the jet boat trip and we stayed to watch one of the guys from the boat trip do a bungy jump. 

Our very comfortable Alpine Holiday Homes house	View from the other side of the road – photo doesn’t do it justice and can’t fit it all in	A view of the town
Shades of our travels in France – Di outside the Hanmer Library cursing technology that doesn’t work and wi-fi you can’t access	Waiau River and bridge where jet boating and bungy jumps take place	Thrillseeker, yeah, that’s me
Practice run	Muchos exhilaration (out of focus because they were going too fast)	This is what the passengers asked the boat driver to do to me – the poor photographer

On the road from Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs

The distance is only 140km’s, which should have taken perhaps 1¾ hours, but the scenery was stunning and there were a lot of other interesting things that had us in and out of the car with the camera, so it took us 4¾ hours!!!  We stopped at an Alpaca farm and met the owner, Glenda who is an ex-Aucklander, now thoroughly enjoying the delights of living at Mt Lyford.  Glenda kindly let us through the gate and showed us her 3 day old baby Alpacas and the beautiful hanks of wool produced from her animals.   Here’s a sampler of our trip to Hanmer …

Who me? What do you mean ‘Goat Curry’?

The little things get my attention like this tree bark

Who us? Can we come to the fence? Doubt it, the goat told us about the curry

Roadside pheasants – smile for the camera?  No way, the goat and the deer told us about you two

Stunning landscapes at every turn of the road – painter’s delights

Hi, my name’s Jericho …do you ike my ‘aircut, well do you?

Gorgeous 3 day old Alpaca baby named Tiffany.  Mum has just taught her to roll in the dust so she did.

This is where these Alpacas (and Glenda & Greg) now live – well, why wouldn’t you swap city life and Mt Roskill for this stunning backdrop and lifestyle of Mt Lyford?