Today is a special day; my 30th birthday! As this week is going to be a busy one with the move into our rental house (and out of this temporary accommodation, finally!), we decided to celebrate a couple of days in advance with a trip away for the weekend.
We packed up the car on Friday evening after work, and headed around 100km north out of Christchurch, into the hills to a little resort town called Hanmer Springs, which is famous for its thermal pools. We wanted to get as far away from the hustle and bustle of the city as possible, whilst still being a short hop to the pools, so we opted to stay at the Amuri Estate in this cute little cabin. I mean, look at it:
It is SO cute. I could definitely live here.
We arrived late on Friday night, the fire was lit for our arrival and we were given a gorgeous little breakfast basket with everything we needed for a cosy stay. The hosts had even arranged a little gift of sparkling wine and local fudge, as a birthday gift. I can't even put into words how perfect this cabin was! It was just what we wanted for a weekend out of the city. I am sure it helped that the sun was shining for the whole weekend, but this felt like a proper little slice of quiet, secluded heaven surrounded by nature. Just perfect!
And of course, waking up to this view on Saturday morning was bliss:
After a lazy breakfast outside in the sun, we jumped in the car and headed down into Hanmer Springs itself (a 10 minute drive from the estate). We went for a leisurely walk around the town, and after a tasty coffee break (is there anywhere in New Zealand that serves bad coffee?!), headed to the thermal pools. The complex has a spa attached to it, offering a range of treatments, and as we were celebrating a rather special occasion (did I mention it's my birthday?) we had booked ourselves in for massages in the late afternoon. So we decided to start by exploring the pools.
The thermal pools are a complex of hot pools, spa pools, and sulphur pools, the last of which may not sound appealing (and smell like rotten egg) but they leave your skin silky smooth - trust me! There's even a cafe for a little mid-bathing snack or drink. While the resort feels a little commercialised (a staff member comes round and take photos of you in the pool, which you can them buy as a gift set for $39.. we weren't entirely convinced!) it is still a fantastic day out, and very relaxing. We rounded off the day with our spa massages, and came out feeling as fresh as new born babies!
As if that wasn't enough to endear us to Hanmer Springs, nature pulled out all the stops with a beautiful, multicolouredd sunset over the mountains, and a night sky full of stars.
On Sunday, we followed a few of the short walking trails around the town. Conical Hill walk is a steep but short uphill walk to some stunning views over the town and the surrounding mountains. It did not disappoint. We followed the trail back down and through to the Woodlands Walk, through a forest filled with different fir trees from around the world, including some impressive Californian redwoods.
Hanmer Springs is the perfect retreat up into nature for a short weekend away from the city, whilst still having a little luxury. We had such a great time.
As today is my actual birthday, I can't let this blog post pass without wishing my twin Happy Birthday too. I've spent 30 years being the younger twin (by a meagre seven minutes, but LJ never let me forget it!) and I have finally found a way to be the older twin.. simply move half way around the world, to a timezone 11 hours ahead. I'm writing this as a 30 year old, while my twin sleeps in Europe, still 29! That's some freaky time travelling magic right there.
Happy birthday to us LJ!
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