Across the Haast Pass to Hanmer Springs

Hanmer Springs is a resort town in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. It is known for its thermal pools and spa. It is where people come to ’take the waters’. The surrounding mountains are home to trails and seasonal ski slopes.

We began our drive to there by backtracking south to Greymouth from Punakaiki and grabbing some shots of the coastal scenery along the way.

We needed to stop in Greymouth to refuel. We are driving a Toyota Rav 4 car which is nice to drive. Because it is a hybrid, the fuel economy is very good. I am estimating that we are using around 4.5 litres per 100km. We are refilling half the tank every few days and thats not bad considering that the average price of petrol here is nearly $2.80 per litre.

From Greymouth, we headed inland on Highway 7 along the broad Grey River valley with all of its pastoral country.

Not far along, we stopped at the ruins of the Brunner Mine which in 1896 was the site of NZ’s largest mining disaster. A coal mine has operated there for many years but for some reason on March 26 of that year, the pit ponies that hauled coal cars from the mine refused to enter the shaft. Suddenly an explosion occurred and a blast of fire erupted from the mine killing 65 men. There were so badly burned that they were buried in a mass grave as individuals could not be identified.

The scenery along the valley was varied and interesting. It was clearly cattle country and not sheep country like much of New Zealand

We drove through quite a few little towns that had a name on the map, but in reality were just a cluster of houses without any form of shop or facility. They looked to be old mining towns with humble little houses that were run down and on poor condition. One of these locations was Totara Flat in which every building looked very sad. It reminded me a bit of Dog and the characters from the cartoon ‘Footrot flats’.

By lunchtime, we had reached the charming town of Reefton. The first gold-bearing quartz reefs near here were discovered in 1870, and for the next eight decades gold was extracted from no less than 59 mines in the surrounding area. With mining came technology and innovation. In 1886 Walter Prince, an English electrical engineer, installed a 1-kilowatt electrical plant to light Dawson’s Hotel. By 1888 a hydroelectric plant was installed to provide lighting in Reefton,  the first town in the southern hemisphere to be lit by electricity, even ahead of fashionable suburbs in London and New York. 

It’s easy to feel like you’ve stepped into a Wild West movie set as you stroll down Broadway, the Main Street. Its restored buildings now house an eclectic mix of galleries, gift shops, cafés, pubs and second hand shops. Old buildings such as the Court House and Wilson’s Hotel add to the perception of a town that should exist on a cowboy movie.

From Reefton, we travelled through many kilometres of Antarctic Beech forest across Lewis Pass. This is one of three road passes that cross NZ’s central mountain range although it is not as dramatic as the more southern routes. The road climbs and descends gently rather than the winding and strong grades of the Arthur’s and Haast Passes further south.

Once over the divide, we lost the Grey River and entered the top of the Hope River Valley. We drove down the valley thinking that this highway is less of a tourist route than other roads that we have traveled. Not only were there fewer vehicles, there were also a lot less stops by the side of the road where we could stop to take a photograph.

Eventually, we reached a sharp corner and narrow bridge where an intersecting road took us to Hanmer Springs, our destination for the night.

It’s a quaint little town with a mixture of new and old buildings along with a very grand hotel.