I spent the last week in Hanmer and it was beautiful. It was cold and snowy, not a typical way to spend July. We had to take a ferry across to the South Island, it was about 3 and a half hours, but it was a really pretty trip. The map below shows the route the ferry takes.

When we got to Hanmer it was freezing, about 30-35 degrees the whole time we were there. This is a picture of the mountains on the road up to Hanmer.

This is a picture from the Main Street in Hanmer looking at the mountains. The next is a picture of the whole of Main Street from the hill where our house was.

And of course SNOW!!!

The big attraction of Hanmer are the hot pools, they have a huge complex built around them that you can go to. But you can also find natural ones. In the picture are some that we found right along a river.

and yes for the record it was about 28-29 degrees and snowing, and that is a dude in his swim trunks lounging in the hot pool.

On the way back from the hot pools we went on a really quick hike, it was about 20 min off the road and there was a sweet waterfall.

The whole thing felt quite magical.

Now I am back in Wellington, and my mom arrives in just over 12 hours, YAY! Then we hit the road for a mad dash around the North Island. On the agenda: Lake Taupo, Napier, Rotorua, Bay of Islands, Rivendell, Hobbiton, Auckland, and whatever else we can squeeze in:) But, till then one last picture from the South Island.