Parking up at the Alpine holiday park, we were met by possibly the the sweetest lady in all of New Zealand and settled in to catch some of the sunshine.
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| Look! Apples. Healthy |
Breaking out the cheese, bread and ginger beer, we soaked up the rays until we were inundated by bees and wasps. Parking near to an apiary probably wasn't the most wise decision.
A short forest walk into the small town centre brought us to Hanmer's most famous attraction: the thermal hot baths. The complex is much larger than any we have tried before in NZ and offers a selection of thermal pools including a sulfurous 42°C bath, whose mineral waters were most pleasant if a little pungent.
Soon, clouds came over and a little drizzle started, which made the hot pools all the more luxurious by contrast, but was less fun when we finally exited the baths. We dropped by Monteith's bar on the opposite side of the road for a quick drink and to shelter from the rain. However, beer inevitably necessitated beer snacks and the resulting nachos filled us up, leaving no room for dinner.
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| Shut up and get in here |
Hanmer seems to be a town entirely devoid of taxis, so we had a wet and dark walk home. This made firing up the heater, opening a beer, and getting out an involved game of cards all the more enjoyable. The game, Gloom, turns all normal rules on their head, by requiring players to suffer set-backs and misfortune to win. This counter-intuitive reward system was fitting with the wet and cold weather outside.
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