The travelling lifestyle affords a few luxuries, things we'd take for granted in day to day like... a full night of sleep, an occasional cold beer, a shower or a good meal. It's easy most of the time to be very happy just being in these amazing places seeing and experiencing new things but very occasionally, when its cold/dark/raining and you're sleep deprived/living off tinned food/itchy from sandfly bites/not had a shower for 5 days then it's easy to fantasise about a bed in a posh hotel, dinner at the snazzy restaurant or a relaxing day at a spa...

...actually that one we could afford! Hanmer Springs is a hot water spa in the Canterbury hills north of Christchurch. At about half the price of other hotpools and easily twice the size we decided to treat ourselves to a relaxing day stewing gently in mineral water.

I'd been looking forward to our spa visit since before we departed for Singapore - that is to say I was pretty excited. However, I was a little disappointed to find that being school holidays the spa was also full of lovesick teenage sweethearts and kids but I wasn't going to let that get in the way of a very chilled day.

We started off in the hexagonal pools at about 38degrees and enjoyed the sensation as the aches and pains of life on the road floated away. This was followed by a dip in the rock pools; these were connected by shallow river ways which, on a quiet day, would allow you to walk between pools but were a favourite sitting spot for families with young kids so impassable. Next up was the sulphur pool which yes, did smell like bad eggs but you did get used to it. It was also the hottest pool and we overdid it slightly and both felt a bit light headed afterwards. This was followed by the hydrotherapy pool which was adults-only and therefore quite busy. It consisted of 3 giant Jacuzzi pools with jets perfectly placed to knead out stiff backs, shoulders and necks. This was probably our favourite of the day.

We left feeling tired, chilled out and blissfully clean (on account of showering pre/post pool). Travelling is not about a luxury lifestyle, in fact it's probably meant to make you realise how fortunate you are to have a comfy bed and a daily wash. But sometimes it's very good for the soul to have a bit of luxury from time to time.

Anna