Christchurch and Hanmer Springs

Wednesday 24.2
After breakfast, as Aideen & Phillip went into work, we took a walk around the city centre and through the park; the park was large and very pretty with extensive flower displays in preparation for the forthcoming flower festival. ‘Met up with Aideen for lunch and afterwards went punting along the River Avon; our punter was Swiss and gave us a commentary on the sights we passed as we went We stopped under one of the bridges where we were treated to a yodelling song from our Swiss punter. It was a relaxing and peaceful was to see some of the city sights including the lovely dandelion fountain with the water spraying out like a ball of mist around it.
Christchurch is a compact city in a plain with a mountainous backdrop; the traffic in it is free-flowing and it is an easy city to walk or cycle around. The tram service does a circular tour around the centre and each tram has a theme, one is specifically for tours, another is a restaurant and another has a jazz band on it. We got the tour one which was quite full as there was a cruise ship in port and there were many people in the city. There were four from the ship sitting opposite us – one lady wearing her name label and continually knitting commented on many of the sights as we passed – this was obviously her second time round with the tour tram. Between the comments the main topic of conversation among the four was food.
Thursday 25.2
After an early breakfast and preparation for the day out we borrowed Aideen’s car and drove north out of the city towards Hanmer springs – a two hour drive. We passed large tracts of lush pasture land and some vines. This area was not suffering as much as the north island from drought. She advised us to do the walk up conical hill rather than go on the trek to the waterfall, as it was quite a long one and we would not have enough time to do the hot springs afterwards. We decided to try conical hill first and see if we could cut across from there to the waterfall; though short it was a steep trek up it. The hill was shaped like a cone and the track zigzagged up it. The views from the top were well worth the effort. Though we tried to cut across towards the waterfall we found that it was not possible so we went back down and went to the hot springs. It was a large enclosed complex with swimming pools, spas, massage facilities and a variety of hot pools (the latter ranging from 35 to 42 degrees). They were really relaxing after the walking. On our drive back to Christchurch we stopped off at the Mudhouse (a winery) for a cup of coffee and some wine-tasting; ‘bought a bottle of wine. We also stopped to look at the giant water sprayers in the fields; a few of them stretched to about a quarter of a Km – took some photos.
We got back in time to watch Aideen and Phillip play in a mixed 6-a-side touch rugby match in the park. Their team was short of a player but one of their friends turned up and (though injured) was roped into the team. The opposition had lots of extra players so they freely substituted throughout the game. The scores were even at half time; in the second half our team came into their own and eventually won – they were elated but thoroughly exhausted; it was like beating two teams. After the match we joined them for a few celebratory drinks at the local bar.