Hot springs and quizzes

Day 9 NZ Tues April 12

Open plan restaurant at Methven Resort. 

NZ vines. 

We drove through acres and acres of vineyards on our way to Hanmer Springs. As its name suggests it is a spa with lovely water loaded with minerals and sulphur (hold your nose). The last time I was here (and the first) snow lay all around and the paths were icy. Today it is sunny enough for me to be wearing sandals, cut offs and a T shirt. Can’t believe our luck with the weather especially since we have been travelling in the wettest parts of NZ lately.



A few of us went in the baths, the 41 degree full-on sulphur job, then what our tour leader calls the ‘pasteurised’ version with muted sulphur plus other minerals like calcium, potassium etc. There is a spa pool with jets pounding your back, shoulders and legs. It’s a great relief for limbs stiffened in a bus seat all morning. The place has grown so much, with added regular swimming pool, and a huge water slide. The sulphur did not do much for my amber ring, and my silver chain did not escape the ravages. Both have become discoloured.

Needed a couple of dollops of ‘tester’ lanolin cream after that soaking. Me and Barbara can’t get enough hand cream on, the atmosphere feels so much drier than Sydney. As soon as we enter a gift store we head straight for the lotions.

 Then we hit a coffee bar that only deals in double shots. There were no ‘nana naps’ for this gal in the afternoon. Instead I worked with Louisa, another trip mate, to fashion some fun trivia questions about the South Island since it will be our last night here. I missed most of the commentary about Lewis Pass, the Maruia Forest, Murchison and the place where Lord Rutherford (who first split the atom) was born, a place called Brightwater.

Later that night after dinner at the Quality Hotel, Nelson we had the quiz. It was obvious no one had been paying attention to our driver’s commentary! Still it was a lot of fun, the prizes were lollies hastily bought for the occasion at one of our earlier stops.

South Island sheep. 

Tomorrow we go to Wellington to start our tour of the North Island. I’m sorry to be leaving the mountains behind.