Lake Tekapo Hot Pools (& Epic Waterslide) – Day 197

Today we’re going to relax in some hot pools with some beautiful Lake Tekapo scenery.

This morning is a pretty hard one for us we’re gonna be leaving the Mt Cook area despite the fact that we love Mt Cook we would be able to stay here forever. But we’ve been on the road for 197 days so it shows and we really deserve a little bit of relaxing time and this is why we are heading to the beautiful Lake Tekapo Hot Springs.

The Tekapo Hot Springs are located right next door to our accommodation for our Lake Tekapo exploration which is the beautiful Lake Tekapo holiday park. We grab ourselves a quick cup of tea and then head toward the springs.

It’s just a short walk along the lakefront to Tekapo Spring which is situated at the base of Mt John with some exotic pine forest behind it and awesome views of the lake in front.

So once we’re getting our day passes we’re then getting changed into our togs, which is New Zealand speak for swimwear, and hitting the hot pools.

We’re first hitting the Tekapo Pool which is the hottest hot pool here at Tekapo Springs it’s 40 degrees Celcius and really you can only stand being in it for about 20 minutes before you start to shrivel into a shrimp.

Nevertheless, it’s super relaxing after almost 200 days on the road so it’s exactly what we needed.

After the Tekapo Pool we’re then moving onto the Ohau Pool because all these pools here at Tekapo Springs have been named after local lakes that are in the Mackenzie region.

The Ohau Pool is at a much more comfortable temperature to stay in for a while it’s super relaxing and what’s really cool about Tekapo Springs as well is that has all these native plants from the region around us.

Another really cool thing about the Ohau Pool is that it has all these water jets which are meant to massage your aches and pains in your muscles which I guess it kind of does but after a while we just end up having way too much fun with these things.

This is what happens when we try and relax for too long.

Although 38 degrees is very comfortable for a pool it is still pretty hot for Laura and I and we can’t really stay sitting around in a 38 degree pool for way too long, so we are making our way to the lower tier pool of the Lake Tekapo Springs which is the Pukaki Pool which is only at 36 degrees although 2 degrees sounds like a very small change between water temperatures it makes a huge difference in our comfort level and I have to say that 360 degree Pukaki Pool is my favourite by far. We are able to stay here for quite a while hang around and chat with Laura it’s really cool and it’s the perfect way to relax but, Laura and I well known for not being able to relax for too long and we have spotted a massive slide when coming in the pools so we are heading there right now.

This inflatable slide is huge, I’ve never seen a slide as big as that. It’s 11m high and gives us heaps of speed when going down and the best thing is that it looks like we’re gonna be alone right now for a wee while because no one else is around. Everybody’s relaxing in the pool. What the hell is wrong with people?

So Laura and I are throwing ourselves down the slide in all different fashions. We’re going front, we’re back we’re going on our belly we’re going on our butts we’re gong together we’re going by ourselves it is so much fun. We just can’t stop ourselves.

Luckily for us we do have an all day pass to the slide so we can literally as many times as our bodies can stand it and that also goes for the hot pools as well they’re all day passes as well so you can come until 9pm and relax in the pools.

However, the water on the slide is not hot but we don’t really care because we are getting super warm just going down this slide again and again and again I think we do it about 15 times it’s so much fun water is splashing everywhere limbs are flying about in all directions so for anyone wanting to try this out you can only do the giant waterslide during summer because in winter this whole area becomes a huge ice skating rink they also hava snow tubing part as well so you can actually get to slide in a big tube through the snow which sounds pretty awesome as well.

But for now we are on our final two slides of the day go down the corner slides which are super fun as well and then we drag ourselves away from the slide to the cafe which is here at Tekapo Springs as well it’s a day of treating ourselves so we have ourselves some delicious cakes and hot chocolates before making our way back to the Lake Tekapo Holiday Park walking through the absolutely beautiful lupins. this has been an awesome first day in Lake Tekapo.

Oh my God, major wedgy.