Beautiful Mountain Resort in the Southern Alps of New Zealand
You're at work: you feel your tolerance for your coworkers and clients sliding into the red zone. You look longingly out of the window and wish you could be out there, one with mother nature and relaxing your weary bones. Well, there is one place that might give you that opportunity:
Hanmer Springs is a small village ca ninety minutes drive north - west of Christchurch which, unusually for New Zealand, doesn't look like Trash Vegas: it only has a couple of hundred of people living there and so far fast food restaurants and cheap, ugly motels have been kept out. Leafy avenues and small houses await the traveller, with small guesthouses and a medium sized 1930's hotel tucked away where they don't disturb the piece of the place. This small town is lying in a high country basin surrounded by an impressive mountain rim and features well developed thermal springs.
It's deserving to visit at any time: during autumn and summer you can hike, fly, do offroad driving or any other outdoor activities. In winter, there's skiing and all sorts of wintersports, but at the end of the day, there's always the springs waiting for you: strip off and jump into the wonderful warmth of the mineral waters and watch the sunset and the stars.
After feeling utterly relaxed and warm, stroll back to your accomodation or get some food: For such a small place, there's actual a good choice of decent restaurants. Of course you could just hurry back to your own accomodation and whip up a nice New Zealand inspired meal.
After three days your blood pressure will be down and your lungs cleansed. Then it's time to rejoin the rat race.