Sunday, May 11, 2008

A weekend away at Hanmer Springs

Hanmer Springs is a small town nestled close to the foothills of the Southern Alps. It's very popular due to its hot springs. This is the 1937 cottage that I rented for the weekend. That's my friend Bronwen coming around the corner.
Autumn is very beautiful here as there are lots of deciduous trees.
Looking up Conical Hill in the township.
We drove up over the hills to Molesworth Station, the largest farm in New Zealand, which is owned by the Department of Conservation. This is the view back over the plains from where we'd come.
This is the terrain of Molesworth, which is a high country station. There wasn't much snow yet.
You can see how rugged these hills are.
Poodles enjoying a run in the tussock beside the river. It was a lovely day.
The poodles and Bronwen's poodle/bichon cross, Buddy, who is mainly poodle except for his tail. They all got along well. There were a lot of wet feet.
Looking back up the river. I love this scenery.
So here's a bit more of it! A lovely place to go for soothing and nurturing. And wonderful to have to make no harder decisions than "where shall we go for coffee?"

10 comments:

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

Fabulous.
This is the only way I'm going to see NZ.
I love your dogs, particularly because they have tails and no silly hair cuts.

Donald said...

Woo hoo... lovely shots. Like the tree that look slike it's on fire!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had a nice trip. I love seeing pictures from other countries. Your pictures are gorgeous, thanks for sharing.

Françoise said...

Wonderful!

Ahava Hopps Brooke said...

it's beautiful. thanks for posting the photos.

Veronica said...

Charming to imagine autumn on the other side of the world as spring blooms here.

Charleen said...

Beautiful pictures! I love seeing those gorgeous autumn colors. I don't think I could live without my four seasons but autumn is definitely the prettiest!

Ali Honey said...

Fabulous photos Shirley. Makes me very proud of our country - New Zealand. What a FIRE TREE!

Great to get away bet you loved it.

Suzi-k said...

how stunning, I can almost feel the fresh air!

Sheila said...

wow. Beautiful country. The dogs look like they had a wonderful time. And I love weekends with all you have to do to wonder where to have coffee.