Quick Departure From Weedons

Real-time

We made a quick exit out of the NZMCA Park at Weedons, Christchurch late Monday afternoon due to an inconsiderate neighbour who decided to light a large pile of green hedge trimmings while there was a reasonably strong wind blowing in the park's direction. 

The smoke, at first, was blowing down the other side of the camp but then the wind turned and sent it across to our side, the acrid smelling smoke forcing it's way inside the van through the vents and making it impossible to do anything outside. I don't usually react to irritants but this had my eyes smarting, nose running and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

David was away doing last minute errands as we were due to leave Christchurch Tuesday morning anyway, but as soon as he arrived back we made the decision to hitch up and get out of there as fast as possible, I'm sure the green pile would have smoldered on for the next few days. It was approaching 4pm and we had to dump first and then make our way through the busy city heading north.  

We didn't want to be on the road after dark which is just after 5pm at the moment, so we headed to the Amberley Beach Campground in North Canterbury which is about an hour's drive away. It's run by the Hurunui District Council and is an informal campground with minimal facilities. This suits many campers as it's cheap and cheerful, and a safe place place to stay. The cost is $5 per person, per night on a non-powered site and $15 per van for a powered site.  

We haven't had power for a number of weeks so we decided to give the batteries a boost and park at the end of the camp where there are a few powered poles. We slotted ourselves into a suitable spot, making sure there was a connection available first, and that our lead reached the pole.

It looks like it's hedge trimming time right around the district; there are piles of green cuttings, tractors and trimmers parked around the edge of the camp. Let's hope they don't light any fires here!

There are three parts to the camp; the powered area at the far end, the non-powered sites (bottom left) by the entrance gate and across the road an area for campers with dogs(top right) which is great for those with pets as there are not too many camps that cater for them. 

It's just a short walk across the road and through a pine plantation reserve to Amberley Beach. The beach reminds me of Marine Parade in Napier and Rarangi in Blenheim, and in fact many others along the east coast of New Zealand. Stony, wild and windswept and not very inviting on a cold overcast day. This 'bach' on the corner with a commanding view of the ocean has seen better days. I'm sure it was someone's pride and joy in the past but I'm not so sure I'd be giving the designer a job any day soon. 

We left  Amberley Beach the next morning heading for Hanmer Springs. We had unfinished business in Hanmer and decided a short detour from our intended route was in order. You'll remember we came to Hanmer two years ago to a celebrate a significant birthday for David; hot thermal pool soak, massage treatment and a nice meal out. Unfortunately we forgot to check school holiday dates and the place was overrun with families, kids, bikes and cars. We took one look inside the hot pool complex and backed out of there quick, we did manage to have a meal out though and David had his massage treatment.

With school holidays still 2 weeks away we're back to have that soak and David is keen to have a massage again as he's been having major problems with his back. We'll only be here for a couple of nights so instead of parking at the NZMCA Park which is 8kms out of town, we decided to stop at a CAP (costs apply parking) which is just a short walk from the village. This way we can stay hitched as we don't need the ute. 

Hot Springs Motor Lodge has a large grassed area beside their motel complex on the main road into Hanmer Springs. It's been raining in Hanmer a fair bit lately and the ground is soft and muddy in places. We were offered the option of parking in the large hotel restaurant carpark but decided it was firm enough around the edge of the grass to park up, although the only issue might be the traffic noise early in the morning as the delivery trucks from Christchurch start arriving.

Payment is in the form of purchasing a $30 voucher for the Lodge's restaurant, which was fine by us as we were going to go out for a meal anyway. Of course I would prefer to choose my own restaurant, but as we'd already tried a couple in town on our last visit and '5 Stags' looked fine (and was), it worked out well. 

We walked into the village yesterday afternoon and as you can see it was deserted. Well not quite, any visitor's vehicles were gathered around the Hot Pools. 

There were nowhere near the number of people we saw on our last visit, when the pool queue reached out the door. Nor the amount of people in the various pools...

...which didn't matter anyway, as we booked ourselves a private thermal pool! 

Which didn't quite have the same view as we had from our deck overlooking Tauranga harbour, but was lovely to relax in all the same.

And in case you are wondering, yes, I still have a few posts from the West Coast to do....I'm working on them but life keeps getting in the way!

Hi-de-Hi Hanmer

We stayed the first three nights at NZMCA’s Hanmer Park which is located about 6kms before the village and very near the Waiau River. The first night we parked near the road as there were a few others on the other side of the park. I was thinking “sleepy little resort, not much traffic”. Wrong. The rumbling started at about 4:30am, delivery trucks & cars zooming pass on the road just above our heads!

After everyone had left the next day we moved over to the other side but not just up against the bank as the others had parked, up on the old road which proved to be an ideal spot for us as it was nice and level and we had a grandstand view of the park and traffic coming & going. After 3 nights (the maximum allowed) we moved on to the Pines Holiday Park which was very handy to the village and just opposite Jacks Pass.

The one way 135 year old historic Ferry Bridge, over the Waiau River, is the gateway to the Hanmer Basin. Thrillseekers Adventures run a number of activities off, under & around the bridge; bungy jumping (there’s a jumping platform in the centre on the far side), jet boat rides up the river (you can see a jet boat tied up beneath the bridge). There’s also rafting, quad bikes & paintball available.

I mentioned in the previous post that we were in Hanmer so David could celebrate a special birthday, he was especially looking forward to a massage. Unfortunately we overlooked the fact that it was the school holidays and Hanmer was a very busy little village with many families enjoying a holiday in the alpine resort. The cafes & restaurants were full to overflowing, the thermal hot pools had a queue out the door everytime we passed by, there were a mass of kids & adults at the two Putt Putt Golf courses in town, every second car had bikes attached to the towbar or riding on the roof. And of course along with all the holidaying families there were the regular tourists & their motorhomes crowding the streets. It was a very hyped up little place.

Added to the mix were these cycles, the Village Cruisers were everywhere, pedalling around town, down the forest roads and passing by the camp site at Jacks Pass. I think they were quite hard work to pedal especially when there was just one adult, the kids had stopped pedalling after a few minutes. I took these photos all within about 15 minutes as I waited on a park bench for my phone to update at a telecom hotspot. 

Initially David was going to have a massage at The Spa, part of the thermal pool complex but we found a couple of others places that also did massages and he selected one that he was happy with and booked with them. We were also going to have a swim in the hot pools at some stage but after seeing how many people (and children) were filing into the pools we decided we might just have a swim in a private pool. That was until I saw it was going to cost $60 for 30 minutes! I’d rather find our own natural hot pool on the side of the road than pay that much for a swim! There are a couple near the road through Lewis Pass but they’ll have to wait as we were headed in the other direction when we left Hanmer.

On David’s birthday, which was on a beautiful sunny Sunday, we walked into town and had a lovely brunch at the Powerhouse Cafe, one of the many busy cafes in the village. Every available table inside & outside every cafe was taken with families enjoying the winter sunshine.
We then had a lovely birthday dinner at Restaurant No. 31, one of the few fine dining restaurants in the village and one without a child in sight! No. 31 reminded us of our favourite restaurant back in Tauranga, Somerset Cottage.

One morning during our stay I took myself off on a walking tour of the historic buildings around Hanmer Springs and in particular through the hospital grounds that surround the thermal pool complex. Along with the fresh mountain air, the thermal springs were part of the therapeutic environment which helped patients recover.

Click on the photo to enlarge if you wish to read the information boards.

The Chisholm Ward for “female patients suffering from functional nervous diseases”, later it became a treatment centre of drug & alcohol dependency.

Next door was the Nurses Hostel, a large imposing building with a very small front door beside which the sign read “Out of Bounds to Clients". I can understand that. There could be quite an emotional attachment from patients towards the nurses especially in the state of mind that some would have.

The Soldiers Block- a convalescent home for the treatment of shell-shocked servicemen.

 

This building is of significant historical value, as one of only two similar hospital buildings of this design, it is the only one that remains on it's original site.

And as I wandered on further through the large park like grounds I came across this building which looks like another type of dormitory hospital block, but it wasn’t until I walked around to the back that I saw a sign saying “Private Property, No Entry” It looked like a military building of some sort which has been abandoned. I’ve been unable to find out any information about it so far. 

In the centre of the village is The Heritage Hotel which is located in a beautiful Spanish-style building that was originally built in the 1930s as a lodge catering to the increasing numbers of tourists to Hanmer Springs “taking the waters”.

While David was having his massage I visited the Hanmer Forest Park which was just down the road (everything is just down the road in Hanmer) where there are numerous bike trails. When we came over Jollies Pass the other day I had spotted this unusual stand of conifers with their trunks all on a lean.

I did a few in-camera abstract shots too.

These could be the Ents from the LOTR film. David offered to put his black beanie on and  peep around the various trunks. I could have done multiple shots and merged them. But we didn’t get around to it.

So that was Hanmer, we did have a lovely time but next time we’ll make sure we don’t coincide our visit with the busy school holidays. We left Hanmer Springs after a very cold night, snow had settled on the surrounding mountains and on the grass around our camp site. And as we pulled out heading for Kaikoura, it started to snow again.