21st December 2009
A glorious cloudless sky meant that this morning we could sit on the sun terrace and enjoy our breakfast. Afterwards we packed up our gear and set off for Hanmer Springs.
The road from the hostel took us down through a small town called Murchisson then snakes through Buller Gorge. We stopped off at the Buller Gorge Swingbridge which is NZ’s longest swing bridge at 110 metres long.
This was a strange sort of tourist place, a bit of something made out of nothing. There is a five dollar fee to cross the bridge and there are supposed to be some good walks the other side, but to be honest, compared to some of the walks we’d done they were a little disappointing, not as well maintained as the DOC walks. There are other ’thrill’ activities on offer too such as the comet line flying-fox to get back across the river (instead of the bridge), but this looked a bit home made. All in all, a good opportunity to stretch our legs, but we’re glad it didn’t cost any more.
A while later we arrived at Spring Junction, the last settlement before we started on the Lewis Pass. For settlement read a small motel and garage, a cafe and a few homes. We stopped for a coffee and a bite to eat. While we were eating there was a young girl playing the violin, she had a young dog with her who kept wandering off to see the customers, so she kept on having to stop and drag him back.
Then we hit the Lewis Pass. On a clear day like today this is a really scenic drive with wide open plains framed by craggy mountains, now devoid of snow with a blue ribbon of water running along the centre. The pass climbs to 970 metres above sea level. We stopped many times on the road to try and capture these stunning views, but part of the problem is that they are so large and vast, you only ever get a snapshot.
We arrived in Hanmer Springs late afternoon. This is the main thermal resort on the South Island, although not as well known, nor the springs as prolific as in Rotorua on the North Island. We wandered through the pleasant little township which is popular with folks from Christchurch as a short break destination. There seemed to be quite a few kiwis about mixing with the international crowd.
We’ve been lucky again with our accommodation, we booked a double en-suite room at a hostel about 10 minutes outside town and ended up with a huge unit with a queen sized bed. It looks really new too - bonus!
