Hanmer Springs, Wine tasting and a visit to New Zealand's first pub...

Hello America!

It's about 35 degrees farenheit... a little over 0 degrees celsius (it's the system they use over here) and I'm sitting here in my room cuddled up next to a heater because the walls are about 5 inches thick- no worries though... the views and surroundings make the shivering worth while!

So I left New York last Tuesday and arrived here late Thursday evening. Since then, I have met people from Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, China, Spain, Local Kiwis (New Zealanders), a few people from Colorado, One from Massachusetts,  quite a few (studying Landscape Architecture like myself) from Illinois, a few from Oregon, one from Idaho, one from Missouri, one from Pennsylvania... and quite a few more that I just cannot seem to remember.

We started our trip with a half hour ride to a winery called the Mud House... we sampled some delicious chardonnay, pino noir, and a few other's that I seem to be blanking on.

Then a half hour ride to Hanmer springs. First stop was a place called mikes seafood, where I had some Fish and chips... the best I've ever had, even better than the restaurant that I work at back in Rhode Island.... and those are hard to beat! Paired with some fresh crunchy wedge fries, the meal was to die for!

We then visited the hot springs!

 The ground below is literally at a near freezing temperature... or at least that's how it felt on my toes!

 When your out of one of the springs, all you can think about is visiting one of the other 20 tubs since its freezing outside...and their was ice cold rain coming down.

 Check out those mountains in the background!

Yes, they were hot!

 Check out those snow capped mountains in the background!

 Skyscraper scene at Hanmer springs...the trunks on those trees were massive, almost as big as the trunks on the redwoods in California!

After soaking for nearly two and a half hours in the springs, we headed over to Hanmer Espresso shop where we either had hot cocoa, or latte's... some even had flat whites, which is a type of coffee, sort of like a capuccino, but not as strong, and with a lot more milk, rather than foam... I just had a latte, which is just coffee with a little bit of foam.

Here's one more picture that I took while touring Hanmer Springs-

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Cheers Mate!