Distance: 9.7 km. Elevation low/high/total: 0/154/299 m.
Difficulty: 3.0/10. Scenic: 7/10
A great little hike that leads to a low key thermal springs spa Click on pic to view album of pics Link to the geotrack is here, |
It had rained prodigiously the past few days before the hike and, as a result, all the rivers in the southern half of the country were swollen and fierce. The point at the hike where we should have crossed the river (that empties into the bay) was simply not crossable on this day. That little detail wasn't going to stop us. We backed further down towards the bay and I decided to swim across to the other side ... only it turned out we could wade across as it was low tide! We quickly found the thermal springs - a lovely spot with a developed pool and picnic table and platform and completely barren of other folks. Though we were sweating profusely, we were determined to take a dunk in the hot springs, only to find that: they weren't hot at all and, in fact, the pool was rather refreshing No disappointment there though! Later, we found the geocache (FTF!) and then took our time on the hike back, stopping and swimming wherever possible. A highly recommended hike - only 200m of elevation gain/loss, 10 km round trip, and absolutely lovely.