She…..
Todd and I were looking for hot springs that are off the beaten track and not a tourist trap and we found them. On the North Island Ngawha hot springs is where any of the locals go. Upon pulling up in the van it smelt strongly of sulfer….rotten eggs. Not too appealing, but you have to try something once at least. I put on my bathing suit and in I went. All the different springs have different names, temps, and metals in them for different ailments. Really a fascinating thing. The place is a co-op type deal and the community runs it, so it isn’t as pretty as others, it actually looked like it was still under construction, hahaha. Anyways, some pools were too hot to even step in! They are normally used for medical conditions and ailments. I felt great leaving them, but smelt of rotten eggs for about a day!! Yuck!
He…….
Finding the place was easy enough but the “looseness” of the “check in” and process was hard to describe. It seemed like every local for miles around came and took a nice long soak. By no means did you feel clean after but the penetrating action of the hot water was felt for sure. I always feel sleepy after a nice long soak but the sulfur smell kept you awake. I ended up talking to a working man there that donates his time to dig more pools. His teenage son was there too just sitting around so I tried to inspire him a bit by talking about other parts of NZ and activities around the area. I would think most Americans would have been really turned off by the roughness of the pools….we are talking about muddy water here, wooden pools, lots of mud and dirt and lack of privacy. Funny thing is, those things are exactly what made it special and I like rolling around in mud anyway! We left smiling although Miss Sarah was a bit turned off by her smell for a few days. The van has smelled just as foul along the way anyway!
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