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This has been sitting in draft for a while, being completed by increments as I found the time and energy.
~~~
Although it was our turn to have the kids for Xmas this year L had elected to stay only until after Xmas. As travelling without him is much easier D had spent a large amount of her triennial paycheck on a package deal family holiday at Hanmer Springs for the four of us.
The kids were packed and ready to go bright an early, unfortunately D's body clock hadn't let her sleep until the medium hours so she and I were but later emerging. We got away more or less at the planned time, which was late morning anyway.
We drove up via Rangiora (to catch an Elmer) and with a side-trip into Loburn to pick up one of D's quilts which has recently returned from a collection overseas. The pattern for the weekend's travel was set; I drove, D read, napped or admired the scenery, R played on one switch (or on later days napped), E played on the other switch, read, may have looked at the scenery, or napped.
We stopped at Culverden domain for a late lunch before making the final push into Hanmer where D picked up various package-tour tickets from the pool administration and we checked into the Clear Ridge Apartments. The unit was a bit of a hike to get to, but very nice. I particularly liked the way the bedrooms were separated by a secondary living area / nook and the bathroom seemed to be fully accessible.
The motel is just around the corner from the pools, so after unloading the car we walked down to use the first of our pool-entry vouchers. The pools were not particularly busy and it was quite relaxing.
R & D had dinner fixings back in the motel room, but E wanted sushi so they and I walked up to the Hanmer Sushi & Bowl, where they discovered the joys of a self-serve sushi bar. (They now want one to open here.)
D crashed out almost immediately after dinner and I had some quiet computer time until I felt sleepy.
~~~
Day two was set aside to cross to the West Coast and visit the seal colony at Foulwind Point (R being a little obsessed with seals, at least the plushy variety.) We managed to depart around 9am and had beautiful weather for a no rush, no pressure drive across the Lewis Pass. We stopped in Reefton for morning tea, and then on up to arrive in Westport about 12:30pm, finding lunch at The Port Side Bistro & Bar, although outside was full so we didn't actually get to view the port. I had the venison bites, D had the fish, R had a perfectly R sized bowl of mini-hotdogs and chips which made his eyes widen when it arrived at the table and E picked at a few chips. (I feel we should have got the bread for them, something to remember next time).
After lunch we made our way to the seal colony, where there were disappointingly a lot fewer seals than on our visit about the same time 4 years ago. In addition E started to panic about someone falling off the track part-way along, and this pretty much ruined the entire rest of the day for them.
Image links to gallery.
That said the rest of the day was mostly the drive back to Hanmer, although this stop in Reefton was one of my favourite 10 minutes of the trip - I wandered away from everyone else for a bit while they were sorting out afternoon tea and sat on a bench in the shade with no background noise, no demands, a perfect temperature and breeze.
Back in Hanmer we stopped at the Four Square for supplies and D & I played a game of Splendor before putting together salads / wraps / chips / cheese for dinner in our motel room. We showered before bed, then despite my best efforts it was my turn to not be able to keep my eyes open and D ended up out in the lounge until she felt tired enough to sleep.
~~~
The next morning E was still miserable from the previous day and wanted to cancel everything and go home. I had a talk with them and persuaded them to try looking at the new day with fresh eyes.
We checked out at 10am then went around to Alpine Crazy Putt for our package round of mini golf. E had reluctantly agreed to join in rather than sitting baking in the car, finding some shade or going to the pools by herself for an extra hour, which we had offered to arrange. The course was tricksy, the sun was baking down and we called it at the 14th hole. D, E, and myself all received sunburn.
From there we proceeded to the pools for a couple of hours most of which were spent in the shade in one of the rock pools. D & I did get some quiet time while the other two went off to other pools for a bit, and I took Rhys to spin around the lazy river for a while.
Just before we were about to leave I discovered that, after checking for ice-cream places on my phone while Rhys was still getting changed, I had put it in the pocket of my swimming trunks and thus it had been soaking along with me :o This was a serious downer, but I went back to the Four Square, purchased a bag of rice, disassembled the phone as much as was possible and put the phone in the rice in the hottest area of the car for the return trip.
We departed Hanmer sometime after 1pm, stopping for petrol and a late lunch in Culverden about 2pm. Later, south of Amberley, we had to detour due to a traffic accident but were still able to find the Elmer in Kaiapoi.
To finish the trip we had ice cream at Hornby and were home about 5pm, after which I began the process of trying to get access to assorted accounts - particularly my bank account - without having a phone to receive 2FA codes on.
~~~
The next day - phone aftermath
D was flying to Wellington the /next/ day and so waiting on insurance to sort out a new phone wasn't really an option. Also putting a new one on a payment plan alongside my monthly post-pay required a much smaller deposit than my insurance excess, and spending less money right now mattered.
Surprisingly I managed to find a phone meeting my primary requirement, a replaceable battery. For bonus irony, it (Samsung XCover 5) is also immersion resistant for up to 30 minutes :/
However it wasn't available on click-and-collect in Chch and I couldn't pay it off with my monthly plan via buying online, so I went into the Spark store in Riccarton to see if they could expedite getting one to me. They didn't have any in stock but were able to locate one at the City branch. So Riccarton did the paperwork and took the money and I went over to collect it. I had to go into the office anyway, so it was only a few blocks to walk.
[As a useful bonus the post-pay plan I was on had become a legacy plan (hence why I hadn't been able to attach the phone to it online) and I was able to actually downgrade the plan while still being able to make payments, for a net saving of about $1 a month.]
Something else interesting was the experience of being patient / waiting for service /without/ a phone on hand to distract me. I mean I frequently try to ignore the temptation of reaching for my phone and just practive mindfulness, but I guess it is always just to one side of my thoughts/awareness. Actually not having the option was ... qualitatively different in a way I can't clearly explain at this remove.
~~~
Although it was our turn to have the kids for Xmas this year L had elected to stay only until after Xmas. As travelling without him is much easier D had spent a large amount of her triennial paycheck on a package deal family holiday at Hanmer Springs for the four of us.
The kids were packed and ready to go bright an early, unfortunately D's body clock hadn't let her sleep until the medium hours so she and I were but later emerging. We got away more or less at the planned time, which was late morning anyway.
We drove up via Rangiora (to catch an Elmer) and with a side-trip into Loburn to pick up one of D's quilts which has recently returned from a collection overseas. The pattern for the weekend's travel was set; I drove, D read, napped or admired the scenery, R played on one switch (or on later days napped), E played on the other switch, read, may have looked at the scenery, or napped.
We stopped at Culverden domain for a late lunch before making the final push into Hanmer where D picked up various package-tour tickets from the pool administration and we checked into the Clear Ridge Apartments. The unit was a bit of a hike to get to, but very nice. I particularly liked the way the bedrooms were separated by a secondary living area / nook and the bathroom seemed to be fully accessible.
The motel is just around the corner from the pools, so after unloading the car we walked down to use the first of our pool-entry vouchers. The pools were not particularly busy and it was quite relaxing.
R & D had dinner fixings back in the motel room, but E wanted sushi so they and I walked up to the Hanmer Sushi & Bowl, where they discovered the joys of a self-serve sushi bar. (They now want one to open here.)
D crashed out almost immediately after dinner and I had some quiet computer time until I felt sleepy.
~~~
Day two was set aside to cross to the West Coast and visit the seal colony at Foulwind Point (R being a little obsessed with seals, at least the plushy variety.) We managed to depart around 9am and had beautiful weather for a no rush, no pressure drive across the Lewis Pass. We stopped in Reefton for morning tea, and then on up to arrive in Westport about 12:30pm, finding lunch at The Port Side Bistro & Bar, although outside was full so we didn't actually get to view the port. I had the venison bites, D had the fish, R had a perfectly R sized bowl of mini-hotdogs and chips which made his eyes widen when it arrived at the table and E picked at a few chips. (I feel we should have got the bread for them, something to remember next time).
After lunch we made our way to the seal colony, where there were disappointingly a lot fewer seals than on our visit about the same time 4 years ago. In addition E started to panic about someone falling off the track part-way along, and this pretty much ruined the entire rest of the day for them.
Image links to gallery.
That said the rest of the day was mostly the drive back to Hanmer, although this stop in Reefton was one of my favourite 10 minutes of the trip - I wandered away from everyone else for a bit while they were sorting out afternoon tea and sat on a bench in the shade with no background noise, no demands, a perfect temperature and breeze.
Back in Hanmer we stopped at the Four Square for supplies and D & I played a game of Splendor before putting together salads / wraps / chips / cheese for dinner in our motel room. We showered before bed, then despite my best efforts it was my turn to not be able to keep my eyes open and D ended up out in the lounge until she felt tired enough to sleep.
~~~
The next morning E was still miserable from the previous day and wanted to cancel everything and go home. I had a talk with them and persuaded them to try looking at the new day with fresh eyes.
We checked out at 10am then went around to Alpine Crazy Putt for our package round of mini golf. E had reluctantly agreed to join in rather than sitting baking in the car, finding some shade or going to the pools by herself for an extra hour, which we had offered to arrange. The course was tricksy, the sun was baking down and we called it at the 14th hole. D, E, and myself all received sunburn.
From there we proceeded to the pools for a couple of hours most of which were spent in the shade in one of the rock pools. D & I did get some quiet time while the other two went off to other pools for a bit, and I took Rhys to spin around the lazy river for a while.
Just before we were about to leave I discovered that, after checking for ice-cream places on my phone while Rhys was still getting changed, I had put it in the pocket of my swimming trunks and thus it had been soaking along with me :o This was a serious downer, but I went back to the Four Square, purchased a bag of rice, disassembled the phone as much as was possible and put the phone in the rice in the hottest area of the car for the return trip.
We departed Hanmer sometime after 1pm, stopping for petrol and a late lunch in Culverden about 2pm. Later, south of Amberley, we had to detour due to a traffic accident but were still able to find the Elmer in Kaiapoi.
To finish the trip we had ice cream at Hornby and were home about 5pm, after which I began the process of trying to get access to assorted accounts - particularly my bank account - without having a phone to receive 2FA codes on.
~~~
The next day - phone aftermath
D was flying to Wellington the /next/ day and so waiting on insurance to sort out a new phone wasn't really an option. Also putting a new one on a payment plan alongside my monthly post-pay required a much smaller deposit than my insurance excess, and spending less money right now mattered.
Surprisingly I managed to find a phone meeting my primary requirement, a replaceable battery. For bonus irony, it (Samsung XCover 5) is also immersion resistant for up to 30 minutes :/
However it wasn't available on click-and-collect in Chch and I couldn't pay it off with my monthly plan via buying online, so I went into the Spark store in Riccarton to see if they could expedite getting one to me. They didn't have any in stock but were able to locate one at the City branch. So Riccarton did the paperwork and took the money and I went over to collect it. I had to go into the office anyway, so it was only a few blocks to walk.
[As a useful bonus the post-pay plan I was on had become a legacy plan (hence why I hadn't been able to attach the phone to it online) and I was able to actually downgrade the plan while still being able to make payments, for a net saving of about $1 a month.]
Something else interesting was the experience of being patient / waiting for service /without/ a phone on hand to distract me. I mean I frequently try to ignore the temptation of reaching for my phone and just practive mindfulness, but I guess it is always just to one side of my thoughts/awareness. Actually not having the option was ... qualitatively different in a way I can't clearly explain at this remove.
