We begin our trip this year with four nights in Hanmer Springs at our holiday home. This gives us time to mow the lawns, tidy the gardens and get into relax mode before the real travelling begins.
We arrived on the day the old Soldiers' Block at the Queen Mary Hospital was given a formal opening after nearly $4million of renovation work. We just missed the combined opening and Anzac ceremony, however there were plenty of official-looking people wandering around, all with large grins on their faces. Clearly the prospect of being able to use a large portion of the ex-hospital buildings for community uses is warmly welcomed. There is even a full gym being installed in part of the facility.
The weather was gloriously sunny over the entire Friday to Monday, and we relished doing domestic chores, i.e. pottering in the garden, deadheading roses and mowing the lawn. I know, it's sad. But they are actually enjoyable 'pensioner-like' activities that we can't enjoy at Walters Bluff. Enough said!
On Monday we had our last swim at the hot pool complex before heading off overseas. By 11.30am we were keen on some breakfast so treated ourselves to brunch at the Powerhouse Cafe.
Our last Kiwi cafe tucker for a while (buckwheat pancakes,
a Big Breakfast, a flat white and espresso)
We should be as fit as we can be, though unfortunately John's knees decided to play up on our walk up and down Conical Hill yesterday. His knees have been a bit temperamental in recent weeks and we're now a little concerned we might have to pull back on some of our planned walks in Japan. We'll be able to play it a bit day-by-day though, because we do have options to shorten any of the walks. To complete the list of ailments, the toe that I very seriously strained 8 weeks ago is now 90% better and it won't be holding me back.
So, we are now fully organised to go. With our spare time here in Hanmer Springs we crossed the final 't' and dotted the final 'i' by doing a jigsaw of a Japanese garden. A bit weird I know but I do really enjoy doing jigsaws and we picked this one up in an Op Shop on our trip down to Otago a month ago.
