New Zealand Day 7

New Zealand Day 7 – Friday 7th May 2010

This morning we woke up to this view. Everything was so peaceful and quiet and we could hear the water trickling and only very occasionally would a car go by.

Not far from where we slept that night we pulled off the road into a lookout. The clouds happened to part and we snapped this shot. Then the clouds covered it all back up! We stopped for a second breakfast at Murschison (only meant to be a coffee stop but the food looked very tempting).

We stopped and enjoyed the beautiful view at Maruia Falls Scenic Reserve.

We drove along in this amazing valley with the river bed down below us and mountains towering up either side of us. Photos just don’t do it justice, the scale of the mountains and the riverbed and the plains are amazing! We arrived at Hanmer Springs late morning and headed straight to the thermal pools! The thermal pools are natural hot springs that bubble up from the ground. The hot water is diverted into different pools, mixed with cold water to create different temperature pools to choose from. The hottest pool was 41°C. Most of the pools were outdoors and ranged in size from lap pool to small spa size pool seating 8. The water is full of minerals and due to the sulphur some of the pools are quite smelly!

We chose to book a private pool for ½ hour. The private pools are located inside with each private room containing a sunken bath and a shower. On wall of the room was made entirely of glass and looked out into a private garden. Nicholas opted to go on the water slides so he went his way while we sat in the warm thermal water and soaked away our sore muscles.

The pools had a great set up, even though we were there out of season and Nicholas was one of only 10 kids there while we were there. Lifeguards were supervising each pool and the cafe served fantastic meals. WH and I sat down to lunch while Nicholas continued to swim and splash (we got him takeaway as we left). We figured that he deserved to run around as much as he could while he had the chance. If you ever visit I highly recommend the pizzas, they were fantastic!

We continued on the road back towards Christchurch and skirted round the city to head west through Arthurs Pass.

Towards evening it got overcast and started to sprinkle on and off! We arrived in Springfield and stayed in a motorhome park. This was the most basic park we stayed in and the cheapest! However it was clean and we had power to recharge the batteries!

Murchison to Springfield 335kms

Hope you all have had a great weekend. Yesterday was my blogiversary and I am going to celebrate with a giveaway! Pop back tomorrow for all the details!

xx