Fortunately, the Tikitere Ora center provides towels and loaner bathing attire. We’d been cautioned in advance to bring swimsuits that were expendable because the pungent fragrance of sulphur can linger even after washing. The Tikitere complex features pools for soaking in mud and water from sulphur springs. Feeling mellow in the sulphur springs pool–Photo by Wallace Immen Taking a muddy plungeĪfter our walking tour, the fun really starts. Although the water smells vaguely of sulphur, cooking in it does not add a taint to food. The trees abound with birds–Photo by Wallace ImmenĪnd there are thick stands of trees and green seaweeds lining the pools even though water temperatures are near the boiling point all year longĪ dramatic example is the natural cooking pool, where the water is a constant 98 degrees Celsius and a full-sized pig dangled into it can be roasted completely in two hours. They’d fill a woven basket with water and its edge would be lined with tiny nooses that would tighten when a bird put its head through to take a drink. They’ve learned to live around the otherworldly terrain and hunt for the wild game and birds who call the area home.Ī particular delicacy is a Tui, or parson bird, which the Maori learned to snare while the birds were feeding on berries in the orange-barked trees that grow around the sulphur pools. Some of the Maori guides are dressed in traditional cloaks made of flax and studded with brown kiwi feathers. A Maori girl in a cloak decorated with Kiwi feathers–Photo by Wallace Immen Life abounds in seeming desolation Another set of boiling black pools are nicknamed the Ink Pots. Another pool whose level is constantly changing Shaw named Baby Adam, after his nephew who loved to bounce up and down. One formation he called The Infants because the twin geysers were so lively. Many of the features were named by George Bernard Shaw during a visit here. Black holes gurgle, fountains of grey goo shoot skyward, while signs register temperatures that can go higher than the boiling point. For over 700 years, the Maori have found soaking in its hot pools can be instantly restorative, reducing inflammation, joint pain and arthritis.Ī path is carved through the eerie maze and you’re well advised to walk the straight and narrow. As it emerges at the surface it forms fantastic bubbling ponds and smoking mounds. Water seeping through cracks in the earth is superheated and turns to steam that condenses closer to the surface, taking sulphur and mineral-rich clay with it. Think of the valley as like a giant coffee percolator. Bubble, bubble: there’s fire down below–Photo by Wallace Immen What’s it all about?
Crossing through the portal you can see why visitors thought they needed all the help they could get. The valley is considered sacred by the Maori and an elaborate wooden gate called the Waharoa carved with scenes from legendary stories is said to provide visitors protection from the volcano god Ruamoko. Just a little over a mile beneath us is a lake of molten lava, so we are really standing on an ancient volcano. We’ve driven an hour from the port of Tauranga on New Zealand’s lush north island to the Maori-owned center of Tikitere Ora, where the Earth’s crust is thinner than almost anywhere else in the world. They’re all affiliated with Seabourn’s exclusive Spa and Wellness program, designed by integrative medicine pioneer Dr. As part of a wellness theme, some of the best experts in the fields of mind and body healing, nutrition and longevity are on the cruise to coach and advise in daily discussions and experiences.
This is an exclusive small-group experience from Seabourn Cruises’ intimate Seabourn Encore on a two-week cruise from Auckland to Sydney. Maori carving in a gate guards against evil spirits–Photo by Wallace Immen Where the Hell are we? And this shore excursion experience at Hell’s Gate turns out to be so heavenly, it leaves us tingling for days. But we’re in New Zealand where a lot of assumptions get turned on their head.
And we’re here to deliberately cake ourselves in thick grey mud with the aroma of rotten eggs.Ī journey to Hell’s Gate may not sound like a quintessential mind and body soothing experience. A superhot waterfall bubbles with steam and you can instantly cook food by dangling it into a stream. There’s a vast cauldron where mud as caustic as sulphuric acid boils continuously.