#conical hill

[jontycrane]

Hanmer Springs

A lovely spot an hour and a half north of Christchurch, Hanmer Springs offers more than just its famous thermal pools, with some great walks and probably one of the nicest town centres in New Zealand, though competition in this regard isn’t huge. The obvious place to start are the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools, which are the main driver of the town’s success (and struggles at times) over the past…

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[linndarrells-blog]

Hanmer Springs bjöd på vyer av berg, äventyrsgolf, och spadag på Hanmer Springs thermal spa. Ett dussintal pooler med olika temperaturer samt en som innehöll sulfat och luktade...sådär gott. Säkert nyttigt för huden! Tyvärr blev det inga bilder av spat (ni förstår säkert varför)

[benandjosbigadventure-blog]

Hiking up a mountain to find snow

Wednesday 13th August

A hard frost had greeted us that morning which meant icy concrete and children bouncing on the snowy trampoline. We left the holiday park at 10am and headed through Hanmer Springs town to do the Conical Hill Walk. Jo wasn’t feeling up to it so we left her sleeping in the motorhome on the side of the street. The rest of us walked uphill to the edge of town along the Conical Hill Road then started the half hour walk up to the lookout then back down. It was a steep muddy and sometimes icy climb, zig-zagging up through the pine cone forest.

 There were snow covered benches over some pleasant lookouts on the way up where Ben was just about able to make a snowball for the first time in almost 19 months. The alpine air had refreshingly cool qualities to it. At the top we were able to admire the mountain region, some green and brown, whilst others were rocky and snow covered. Well worth the short but strenuous walk to the top. Back at the bottom we had a cup of tea with Jo then went across the tree covered parkway to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Spa for 1pm.

 Visitors have been soaking in these waters for over 100 years. The hot-spring water mixes with fresh-water to provide a variety of pools of different temperatures. Aside from the mineral pools there were landscaped rock pools and a freshwater pool. Our favourite pools would either be the ones with jets of air firing out at different heights to massage your muscles or where hot water was pounded into our shoulders from a mini waterfall. We found a voucher to give us a free 30 minute private session in a private thermal pool which we all very much enjoyed.

 Getting some treats from the Hanmer Bakery we had more tea in the van then made our way into Christchurch. The weather was supposedly going to be bad the following day then better after that so we planned on saving Akaroa/Banks Peninsula for later on in the week. After 2 hours/128k driving we arrived at Christchurch Top 10 Holiday Park for the night.