Beautiful Hurunui: Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs

Douglas Paul
Apr 8, 2021

The northern-most section of the Alpine Pacific Touring Route through the beautiful Hurunui connects Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs and Lewis Pass. This blog covers the road trip to Hanmer Springs, including a number of gorgeous places to stop and explore.

Hanmer Springs was named for the local hot springs, which are a large commercial attraction. The area has a distinctive northern hemisphere alpine feel, as early settlers cut down most of the native forest and planted exotic pines in their place. Today there are a number of large exotic trees in Hanmer Springs, including redwoods, as well as Hanmer Forest, which is perfect for walking and biking. There’s also native forest which you can experience through the hiking trails on Mt Isobel.

Inland Road from Kaikoura

The Inland Road from Kaikoura leads you through most of the alpine Hurunui section of the Alpine Pacific Touring Route. At the Kaikoura end, the road is overlooked by the Seaward Kaikoura Range and then by the Amuri Range as you approach Waiau.

Inland Road is a lesser-known scenic route but well worth the drive, dominated by hills, mountain scenery and a scattering of farms. Note that there are no shops between Kaikoura and Waiau, but there is a small ski resort village at Mt Lyford, which is well worth a visit.

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Waiau Uwha River Bridge

Waiau has one of the longest single-lane bridges in New Zealand. The bridge crosses the Waiau Uwha River, a lovely example of a South Island braided river. There are some passing bays on the bridge, so you can probably get away with a brief photo stop – especially tempting around sunset.

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Waiau Ferry Bridge

Shortly before Hanmer, you travel over the Waiau River via the Waiau Ferry Bridge. The bridge crosses a gorge high enough above the river to allow bungy jumping, so it’s a dramatic sight.

There’s a cafe and parking area just before the bridge, and if you drive over the bridge towards Hanmer there’s another place to park that looks up the gorge to the bridge and down the river to the west – so there are plenty of opportunities to look at the view. You can also hire jet boats, rafts, and other water crafts for exploring the river, and there’s a campground if you want to stay overnight.

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Hanmer Springs

Hanmer Springs is a very pretty and relaxed resort town, lined by mature exotic pines, sequoias and redwoods. Although it’s a tourist destination, Hanmer Springs is off the main routes and has retained an alpine feel – even the very large commercial hot pools are well disguised by the trees.

Walking and biking around town is easy. At the north end of Hanmer is a thirty minute hike up to the top of Conical Hill, which overlooks the town, and the Hanmer Forest trails are easily accessible too.

If you’re interested in history, check out the Queen Mary Hospital behind the Hanmer Springs hot pools. It’s an unusual historic building, and goes back to when hot pools and fresh air were supposedly all you needed for good health.

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Hanmer Forest

The exotic Hanmer Forest is extensive, running down the entire west side of the town. There are numerous types of exotic trees, as well as open spaces for picnics and plenty of walking and cycling trails – we suggest you start by getting a trail map. A particularly pretty section is the Woodland Walk Recreation Reserve, which is to the side of Jollies Pass Road and just out of town.

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Dog Stream Waterfall Track

If you feel that Hanmer Springs and its forest are a bit too civilised, head to the hiking tracks on the side of Mount Isobel. The peak is 1,319 metres and you can walk right to the top from Chatterton Road and Jacks Pass on the west side of the mountain, or below Jollies Pass on the east side (although this second option requires a 4WD).

On the day we visited it was raining, so we chose the beautiful Dog Stream Track that starts at the end of Mullans Road and follows a stream up to a 40 metre waterfall. The track is often rugged and surrounded by native beech forest, and it takes about an hour or so each way.

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Want more Hurunui trip ideas?

Check out our recent post on Hurunui Mouth, Gore Bay and Kaikoura.

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