Hanmer Springs and Flaxmere Gardens

We found ourselves in some hot water at Hanmer Springs! Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of it. We took some but we can't find them on the computer. This is the problem with digital photos. We do have some pics the photog at the resort took but our printer/scanner was damaged in the move here and I am too cheap to buy another one. So we are truely paperless around here. No printer, no paper. But it means no scanner too. :( Anyway, trust me we had fun! Check out the link: http://www.hanmersprings.co.nz/ and see the pools, waterslide, etc... One funny thing about the place is that the changing rooms are not really heated. They have these radiant heaters hanging here and there from the ceilings but it just keeps the changing rooms above freezing! And the floors are concrete. I thought I'd have frostbite before I got all three kids out of their wet clothes and into dry ones and THEN got myself changed. You would think that for the cost of about NZ$100 (US$80) for a family of 5 to get in, they would manage to heat the floors. I mean, all you'd have to do is run the hot water from the springs under the floors. But, I digress!

On the second day at Hanmer, Maggie didn't feel well. She had been a bit under the weather but on the second day she was really grumpy and listless and hot. So Erik and Sue watched her while I took the die hard swimmers back into the hot pools. And then out again for another trip to the frigid changing room! We didn't know it at the time, but Maggie was working on a case of RSV. Poor girl. You can see she's under the weather in the Flaxmere Gardens photos below.

Flaxmere Gardens were gorgeous and we were there in the Winter, when the owner told us there was less to see. She was so nice. We were the only people who had come to see the gardens that day (and maybe for a few days). She and her dogs gave us some history of the gardens and then let us look around on our own. One thing she told us was that her mother in law and her mother had told her two important things years ago and she had been living by them ever since. The first rule was to do something creative every day and the second rule was to plant things that were beautiful twice a year. With these things in mind, she and her late husband designed and built their amazing garden.

There were a series of ponds on her land that she and her husband had created by damning up a stream that ran through their land. (I kept thinking: I hope they had a permit! Too many years working on FEMA issues.)

Every direction, there was something beautiful to see. 

Beautiful swan. 

 There were some terrific sculptures that really suited the landscape. Organic.

Ben is a photo bomber!

I love two things about this photo. Both of which make my OCD, type-A husband nutty. 1: I love that the bricks have been lifted by the tree's roots and then left alone. 2: I love the moss on the bricks. One should never get rid of moss. Moss rocks!  

Another gorgeous sculpture. 

 Me and my little man.

We all really liked this sculpture. 

 Caty and Grandma Sue.

 Caty discovered that sun dials need enough sun to throw a shadow.

 Family photo with one sick little girl. 

 Grandma with the grand-kids. 

Yes, there were sheep. They are everywhere. You can just see the electric fence line at the bottom of the pic. We told the kids once: Don't touch the fence! Did they listen? Nope, but they learned an important lesson about listening! LOL!

After this, it was home to Christchurch and off to the doctor for Maggie. She recovered in a few days and is fine now. But it was pretty hard on her, poor kid.