South Island Holiday - Hanmer Springs

We left Kaikoura on Tuesday morning and made our way inland towards the quaint alpine village of Hanmer Springs, a picturesque hamlet that sits in a valley between snow capped peaks. Its main attraction is the hot springs which it proudly promotes. But before I get into that, let's back up a bit...

The following picture is of the mountain sides we passed by as we traveled to Hanmer Springs. These brilliant yellow bushes covered the mountains, and provided quite a stunning backdrop. (This picture was taken as we were speeding down the road at approximately 100 km/hr, hence the blurred foliage at the bottom).



We arrived in Hanmer Springs around lunchtime, grabbed a bite to eat and then made a beeline for the hot springs. There were a variety of different pools with varying temperatures and mineral components. There was also a freshwater pool with slides, waterfalls, caves and all sorts of other fun activities for the young and young at heart (aka Brad). It was a lot of fun, but really cold. Brad & Jonathan didn't seem to mind, but Harrison and I found some warmer pools after a while.

The following two pictures show a couple of different views of the pools.



There's the waterslide in the background...



Brad & the Boys







We swam for about and hour and a half in the afternoon, went to our hotel and took naps, ate supper, and then headed back to swim again in the evening. Quite a relaxing day!

Hanmer Springs does offer biking trails, hiking, ATV tours and of course bungee jumping off the bridge heading into town, but we didn't partake in any of those adventures...maybe next time!

The next morning we took off for Nelson...

South Island Holiday - First Stop: Kaikoura

Well, we took off on our South Island adventure on Friday the 14th and made our way down to Wellington, where we took the InterIslander Ferry across Cook Straight to the South Island. It was a three hour trip and we got to see a beautiful sunset.

This wasn't actually our ferry (ours was behind this one), but it's the one we took on our return trip.



Harrison checking out the water below.



A beautiful sunset as we entered Marlborough Sound.



We spent the night in the small town of Picton and then took off in the morning on the two hour drive along the East Coast, through beautiful vineyards, to the town of Kaikoura. Kaikoura is considered the whale watching capital of the world (at least, that's what they claim). We spent the afternoon exploring around the coast. Our hope was to hike around the cape and see the fur seal colony, but the boys got sidetracked by all of the tidepools, so we never made it. At least we were able to see a seal swimming around in the water.

A view of the coast with snow-capped mountains in the distance.



The boys enjoying climbing around on the rocks.



Taking a break to soak their feet in the warmer waters of the tidepools (and probably killing off all sorts of endangered sea-life in the process).




On Monday morning we were scheduled to go on the whale watch. We were a bit concerned that we wouldn't be able to go due to the rough water (they sometimes increase the age limit, which is three and above, depending on how choppy the ocean is, and since we were already telling a small white lie by saying that Harrison was three, we were a bit worried). But luckily, we were all able to go.

Brad & the boys sitting in the boat waiting to take off. We were somewhat concerned that being on the rough waters would cause a bout of seasickness, but luckily we were spared. Not so for the two ladies in front of us, I won't go into details, but let's just say it wasn't pretty!



Jonathan and Harrison checking out the sperm whale (at least Jonathan saw it, I don't know whether Harrison did or not, and I'm pretty sure he didn't care one way or the other).



A picture of one of the two sperm whales we saw (unfortunately, I was tending to Harrison, and missed getting a picture of the whales tale as he took off on his deep dive, which was the coolest part). They dive between 500-1000 meters to hunt, but they have been recorded as going as deep as 2500 meters. They hunt the giant squid, sharks, and other large fish. They can grow to be 65 ft. long and weigh between 40-50 tons (that's the males, the females are quite a bit smaller). If you have any other questions regarding the largest toothed whale on earth, just ask Jonathan, he has become quite the whale expert. We also saw a large group of dusky dolphins, albatross and a variety of other sea birds, and there was supposedly a young humpback whale in the area, but we ran out of time and never got to see him.



We had a good time in Kaikoura, especially Jonathan who couldn't stop talking about the whales. Our next stop was Hanmer Springs...stay tuned for more!

Our Little Picasso

Jonathan has really been enjoying his preschool and all of the friends he's made. He is always quick to say, "okay, mom, I think it's time for you to leave" when Harrison and I drop him off (is he embarrassed by me already, at such a young age!?). His best friend is named James and he thinks the prettiest girl in his class is Tori, but he won't give us any more details on her.

Some of his favorite activities are playing in the sandbox and playing firefighters. He has also really enjoyed painting and usually heads to the paint center first thing when he arrives at school. This is somewhat surprising to us, since he shows no interest in coloring, drawing or painting at home, so we're glad to see he enjoys painting at school.

This is one of his most recent paintings. It is actually quite large (about 2'x4').



This piece is extra special for me...He told me before he went to school one day, that he was going to paint me a picture of a red rose, and this was that painting.



These are some of his more "abstract" pieces.




Since the walls in our house are empty, it has been nice to decorate with some original art pieces. It definitely makes it more homey!

Put down the scissors and step away!

The pictures speak for themselves. Let's just say this was not the intended outcome...






I've vowed never to attempt to cut my children's hair again. (I still get a bit teary-eyed looking at pictures of those golden curls...sob, sob, sob)