The cloud had descended as we woke in Kaikoura and prepared to hit the road again. We drove into the Southern Alps but were only treated to sporadic views of the mountains through the white mist and gloom.

Hanmer Springs was lovely and very alpine and we stayed at a great little hostel called Le Gite. It was very cosy and felt like someone's house. Our room was nice but the stay was marred by their bread machine waking us up at three in the morning knead some f****ing dough! It sounded like bloody WW3!

Seeing as it was so cloudy and we wouldn't have a view of the mountain above the town, we decided to visit the hot springs at night. It was brilliant and we spent a few hours running and freezing between the pools of varying temperatures with grotto-like coloured lights. The last pool was really hot and we felt very relaxed afterwards. What a treat for 10 bucks!

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