The Smiths Abroad: All hail the "Queen's Birthday" and get a day off... Part 1

This past weekend was a holiday weekend here in New Zealand. We celebrated the Queen’s Coronation by having Monday off! Will and I decided to take advantage of this long weekend and make it a 4-day weekend and take a trip. We flew to the South Island for the first time and took a road trip. We were in ChristChurch, Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura, Blenheim, Picton and then flew out of Wellington. Since our trip was so packed full of awesomeness, I’m going to break up our blog by general area.

We flew into ChCh Friday morning and rented a car. We got the cheapest one, but ended up with a pretty flash Hyundai anyway!

Our expectations of downtown ChCh were pretty low as we’d heard from several people that since the earthquakes, there is not much to it and its worth a look, but not much more. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked it!

Walking around ChCh

We walked around the “Red Zone” which is the area still under construction since the quakes. There is a 45 min walk around the perimeter with signs explaining where things were. It was really powerful to see all the destruction. It was the saddest to see the cathedral with it’s roof caved in and stones crumbled. The cathedral was built in the 1860-70s and has been damaged by earthquakes before, but nothing like this.

The cathedral before the earthquakes

And after...

Using containers as stabilizers for partial walls still standing

Once we had almost finished our walk we stumbled upon the area that is being used as the temporary downtown. It was so cool to see their creativeness. They have used shipping containers to build a mall with all the traditional downtown shopping and had a nice market going on Friday afternoon. We had a nice truck lunch then hit the road for Hanmer.

Marketplace in ChCh

Re:START container mall in downtown ChCh

The drive was beautiful as we approached the Southern Alps. I wanted to stop every 10 min for a picture, so had to use some self-restraint!

Once we got to Hanmer, we were entranced. The main street was lined with beautiful orange and crimson trees with the backdrop of snow capped mountains. It felt like a quaint Rocky Mountain town. Our first stop was to the spa where we had complimentary steam and massages. In between our treatments we were served amazing herbal teas while lounging in our robes. That night we got some yummy Indian and had a night of relaxing in our cozy hotel room.

The next morning we got up and went for a brisk walk around town. While we were walking we started chatting up this gentleman with a doggie and he told us to follow this path to go up to an observation point. What he didn’t tell us was that it was VERY steep to get up and I was huffing and puffing. BUT the view was definitely worth it.

The sun makes the background look like a painting!! How amazing is this place??

View from the top of the hill in Hanmer

After breaky we hit the pools. We had a 30 min private thermal pool as part of our package and then enjoy the relaxation pool outside with jets massaging your whole body, ankles to neck! It was so great and I didn’t want to get out…but we had to hit the road to get going to our next port of call.

The Pools in Hanmer Springs. Amazing!

About an hour and a half away from Hanmer Springs is a town called Kaikoura. This is most famously known for whale watching trips as there is a deep trench nearby where they like to hang. We passed on the ship for that day (we plan to go back in the summer), but just stopped for a look around and a little shopping. These pictures do not do it any justice! This is SUCH a beautiful town with sea and snow-capped mountains all in one view. We even saw tons of seals along the road. They were so interesting to watch within their colonies on the rocks.