A Few Days in Hanmer Springs

We spent two days relaxing at the NZMCA park by the Hanmer Bridge, which is about 7kms from the village. In October when we had stayed I'd written a blog post of this little alpine village, so this post is about a couple of forest walks.

The morning started with a little fog slowly rising upward from the ground - unfortunately there was no spectacular sunrise.

There wasn't any movement in the campground. I'm guessing the campers must still have been snoozing. - smart move.

Before lunch I took the dogs for a walk along 'Dog Creek' (It's now named Dog Stream, but when I grew up in Hanmer we always called it 'Dog Creek'). There's something so therapeutic about this area. The scene was set with an astounding variety of every shade of green, the trees were full of bird song, plum trees scattered about were dripping in ripe fruit, rowan trees weighed down with an abundance of berries, the gentle bubbling water (free of toxic algae) ... it was incredibly peaceful and inviting.

I googled what the colour 'green' represents, this is what I discovered ...
'It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye'.
No wonder this place felt like the perfect tonic.

Plum trees smothered in plums (both red and green) were growing along the track. Remember the good old-fashioned wild apple trees with apples that had black spots, dimples and that sweet tasting russet? Those very trees were along the walk - the apples were crisp, juicy and ohhh so tasty!

Rowan trees were also dotted about, with prolific orangey-red berries bending branches with their weight - does that mean we're in for a harsh winter?

The tracks near Squirrel Lake were also stunning, and we were lucky enough to be there when the blackberries were ripe. It brought back childhood memories of eating so many blackberries our teeth had a purple tinge. 

It's an ideal area for dogs. So much space and places to explore. A huge open paddock near the lake gave the dogs a massive space to run around and chase each other.

Boo and her out of control ears.

Worth a try ...but "No Paddy, you can't swim in that lake".

Fifty shades of green.

I couldn't leave Hanmer without a photo of the Waiau Ferry Bridge. I was hoping to get one with sunset colours but the sky didn't play its part, instead it remained plain grey - maybe next time?