I agree! We stayed at Greenacres too, in their townhouses. We chose them because we could take our dog and she was allowed inside. Would recommend this place to stay, but if you want to walk in to town (short walk) you will need to walk uphill on the way back!

Hanmer Springs is a great place to visit whether for a day, a weekend or longer. There is plenty for adrenaline junkies with bungee jumping, jetboating etc nearby. There are also skifields and great tracks for mountain biking etc. There are also some fantastic walks - up conical hill is a pretty good one. In terms of the best places to stay, we like the settlers motel (+64 3 315 7343) which is well placed for town. Its a really nice motel with friendly owners. They give you free DVDs to watch and have maps of walks etc.

The Old Post Office is a fantastic restaurant as is Malabar. If you want the very best in pub food then Jolly Jacks is probably the best.

Of course the real treat in Hanmer are the hot springs, great any time of the year but a real treat in winter with snow all around, really quite magical. You can buy a day pass for about $10 so you can hop in and out and go and do lots of other stuff. There are all kinds of beauty treatments and complementary health providers, massage etc all over Hanmer. If you haven't been for a few years you'd probably be suprised at how much its grown whilst retaining all of its character.

Another great place we stayed and really well priced was Greenacres (+64 3 315 7125) with motel units and cabins. It was up the hill a little way. Lovely and peaceful with room for the kids to run around and they let your dogs stay too!

Some useful links are hanmersprings.co.nz - all about the hot pools

http://www.greenacresmotel.co.nz/ - greenacres motels

http://www.settlersinnmotel.co.nz/ - settlers inn motel

http://www.hurunui.com/Information/Hanmer/ - good general stuff