Day 303 on the Road
Relaxing at the Wairakei Terraces
To end our relaxing day in Taupo at the Wairakei Terraces hot pools! If you like this video and want to see more 365 Days: 365 Activities in New Zealand then head on over to our epic YouTube Channel!
After we’ve gone through the 9 holes we are going onto our second relaxing activity of the day which is only a few hundred metres down the road at Wairakei Terraces.
Previously on day 303 part 1 we went golfing at the Wairakei Resort Golf Course. It’s one of the cheapest and easiest golf course in the country and that was a great beginning of our relax like a local themed day right here in Taupo if you guys don’t want to miss anything about New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year when we challenge ourselves to tackle 365 activities in only 365 days yes we are that crazy, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out anything and you join us everyday.
The real relaxing part of our our relaxing day in Taupo starts with the Wairakei Terraces and thermal spa resort which is only about a five minute drive out of the taupo town centre.
The Wairakei Terraces are probably the most famous hot pools in the whole of the Taupo area we are gonna take the time to explore a little bit the surroundings before delving into its milky blue waters. Around it, we can see a tonne of amazing geothermal features but there is a little secret about them they are actually all manmade they are supposed to be reminiscent to what the geothermal landscape in the area used to look like before the geothermal energy was tapped in in order to produce electricity for the surrounding area.
They are also extremely reminiscent to what the Pink Terraces used to look like which was probably the most famous sight in New Zealand when the early settlers settled in.
One of the most striking sights in this little walk is the beautiful and absolutely gigantic geysers this is also manmade and draws water from 1.5km below ground where all the minerals are super rich and it’s perfect for your skin. And this geyser is what feeds the pools that we’re gonna be diving in.
From the geyser the mineral water makes its way down the beautiful silica terraces and feeds into the hot pools that we’re gonna be bathing in right now. As we make our way back we see a few Maori carvings which tell the history of the local tribe and then we are getting ourselves our togs on which is Kiwi speak for swimwear and jumping into the water.
Each of the hot pools are the Wairakei terraces are designed to be shaped like the silica terraces that the water is coming from and each those terraces has a different temperature of water ranging from 34 degress Celcius to 44 degrees Celcius which is pretty scorching.
One of our favourite features of these hot pools is the silica waterfall which is not only depositing all these silica features along the way but also bringing lots of minerals into the pools that we’re bathing in.
The mineral rich waters of the area has been used as healing water as far back as the 1900s when the first Maori tribes settled in New Zealand it has actually a lot of properties the silica in the water actually uses collagen to reverse the aging process, it strengthen bones it boosts the immune system it promotes healthy nerves and much more it’s basically a rejuvenating bath. But this water doesn’t just have silica it is rich in other mineral like sodium, potassium, magnesium and much more.
And all those minerals combined together is what gives the water this milky blue colour it feels like being Cleopatra right now bathing into an amazing bath of milk plus with this amazing amount of minerals our skin feels almost instantly super smooth.
But after spending a lot of time on one of the hottest pools in the area we are actually decide to make our way to something a little cooler because if you guys remember from the amount of time we spent in the hot pools when in Rotorua we can’t really handle hot hot pools for too long.
Relaxing in these soothing hot pools is a welcome break from some of the crazy activities that we’ve been doing while doing our 365 days 365 activities around New Zealand. Even in Taupo alone we have done so much between fishing, jet boating, skydiving, kayaking, sailing, even mountain biking, golfing today and we still have a lot more yet to come even in even in the next few days we have parasailing jet boating and white water rafting. We are super stoked about what’s coming up but let’s just take some more time to relax and really embrace this more unwinding sensation in the hot pools.
I’m cooked. How you feeling?
Way too hot.
I’ve been cooking in the water for a good two hours. Casey is red as. Laura is I don’t even want to talk about it.
Laura’s a prune.
So I think it’s time for us to go get some food cos I’m hungry.
Then before our fingers turn to prunes we head back into the changing rooms change back into our stuff and head back into Taupo. Bish bash bosh relaxing day in Taupo done.