Dipping into a Hot Pool

This morning, I went to take the bus to the hot springs at Waiwera (pictures on the right side of the page!).

Waiwera is a thermal spa resort with naturally hot springs. They have hot pools to soak in, waterslides and fun pools for the kids, a pool with a movie screen, a spa, a sauna, and probably a lot of other stuff I'm forgetting about right now :) The water that comes out of the ground is hot because there is a geothermal aquifier located 1500 meters below the resort.

There is a public bus route that goes all the way from central Auckland to Waiwera. This is pretty convenient, but I didn't realize how long it would take - one hour and 30 minutes one way!

We left central Auckland and drove up North (see the google maps link on the right of the page!). Pretty soon, after we left the city behind, the trees grew taller and more prominent, and the landscape overall became very "small-townish."
I also saw a lot of sheep! Living in Auckland centre, I forget sometimes that New Zealand is famous for its sheep. The only sheep in Auckland are the products made from sheepskin, I think :P
Here, however, there were tons of sheep, cows, horses, and even deer in different enclosures! Some of the deer even had large antlers - I didn't even know you could keep them fenced in like that...

We also drove by Massey University in Albany. One of my mentors is moving his lab up there in August. He told me how beautiful the area is, and I have to agree with him. Overall, of course, it is very rural compared to Auckland University. If you look out the window of a classroom in Auckland, you are most likely to see paved roads and cars. At Massey University, you can see the sheep and cows chowing away on beautiful green grass!
I didn't take any pictures because the bus drove so fast, but this is one I found on the web, showing off the pretty architecture of one of the main buildings.

If I can, I would like to go up there again and look around a little bit.

We continued up North, and I got a tiny queasy feeling in my stomach from the winding roads. Good thing we were almost there *haha*!

The bus dropped me off right in front of the spa resort - very convenient!

I bought a ticket and rented a towel (I didn't bring my own because I didn't really want to carry around a wet towel afterwards :P) and went inside.

This is were it got cold.

I knew that the pools were "outside," but I guess I expected some kind of warm enclosures connecting them, or heated changing rooms, or something... No, nothing of the sort!
Here I was: standing in my winter jacket (the temperature was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit), chilly from the wind - and everything was out there, under the open sky and enveloped by a fresh breeze from the sea (only about 100 ft away).

I took a look around. There weren't too many people there, which was nice. All the pools were indeed outside, but a few of them had some kind of sunroof over them.
I changed quickly and jumped into the 40 degrees Celsius pool *haha* ... and stayed there for the next two hours!
Well, I did take a dip in the neighboring pool, but it only had 32 degrees... that's just a little less than normal body temperature (36 degrees) and I felt it :P

Overall, though, the pools were really nice and relaxing. You quickly forget about the sulfurous smell. Also, they mix a little chlorine and other chemicals into the water to keep it sanitized. Twice, a guy came by to take water samples. Too bad, though, that it was so cold outside. I bet it is really nice in the summer!

Sitting in such hot water for too long, though, is a little tiring :) I changed back into regular clothes and took a walk around the resort area.
There is a little beach close by, a camp ground, and lots of little apartments. Some are privately owned, and some can be rented as vacation homes.
The whole resort area was enclosed by some kind of high cliff full of green, tall trees.

I stopped for a cup of hot tea at a little restaurant, and then I took the bus back to Auckland.

It wasn't too late yet so I thought about going shopping, but I couldn't find the right bus stop for the shopping center. Somehow, the bus schedule I had was wrong :(
Also, as I wasn't surrounded by sulfurous vapors anymore, I could really smell my own hair... *haha*!
So I decided to call it a day and take another shower :)

Back at The Railway Campus, I met my second roommate. She is from Washington and is also doing an exchange program.