Locals soaking in the hot mineral-rich pools at Ngawha Springs circa 1893-1903. Photo / Northland Age
For hundreds of years, Ngāpuhi bathed in the mineral-rich hot water bubbling from Ngāwhā Springs, renowned for their healing and restorative powers. Michael Botur drops by for a soak in what is now a multi-million-dollar tourist attraction.
Moana Cross remembers when Ngāwhā Springs were little more than a series of muddy pools linked by wooden paths and fringed with flax bushes.
“Rustic” is the word she uses to describe the springs. It cost just a few dollars for a soak in the pools which, before 2019, were run by volunteers.
Cross now manages what has become a major tourist attraction in Northland after a $4.3 million revamp, the result of a decade of planning by Parahirahi Ngāwhā Waiariki Trust amid a divisive and still-unresolved Waitangi Tribunal claim by Ngāpuhi.
Several government agencies helped fund the redevelopment of the 16 main pools, completed in April 2021, which included stain-resistant buildings and changing rooms set back from the fumes, new carvings, a teahouse and a manuka palisade fence - an improvement on the sulphur-stained planks held together with wire and crates.
“We didn’t even have fencing in some parts when I was a child,” Cross recalls.
“The pools were really basic … the floors were muddy. When I volunteered as a teenager we had wooden paths. The complex itself, the wood, the nails, deteriorated really quickly because of the minerals in the air and there were lots of sulphur deposits.”
Eleven pou (carved post-statues) have been installed, representing the tūpuna (ancestors) of the Parahirahi hapū. The carver also created likenesses of the pools’ guardian taniwha, Takuere, who is said to sometimes appear through early morning rainbows in the mist.
Staff who used to come as kids or volunteers are now employed at the springs, learning customer service, computer skills, or mirimiri (traditional Māori massage).
The “World Famous in Northland” hot springs, 5km east of Kaikohe, expanded after the trust bought eight private pools on land once owned by the Ginn family. And it has leased the use of seven other pools, traditionally known as The Domain, from the Far North District Council.
Despite the upgrade, Northland-born Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro was impressed that the pools themselves mostly remained the same as she remembered when she visited earlier this year.
“Ngāwhā Springs has always been a go-to place for my whānau over many generations,” she told the Herald. “My grandmother lived at Ngāwhā during her life.
“We have visited the springs over the past 60-plus years to soothe our aches and pains, to soak together in the warmth and chat together, especially on cold nights, and to benefit from the mineral healing properties of the springs. My husband and I ... thoroughly enjoyed the chance to revisit our old favourite springs - though the Doctor Pool remains a bit too hot for us!”
No matter who the VIPs or visitors are, discretion remains part of the pools’ code. Anybody can hop in any pool and kōrero confidentially with anyone even though temperatures may rise. The hottest pools - the Bulldog and Universal - can hit almost 50°C before being closed off to the public.
Chatting to strangers is exactly what regulars come for, trustee Nathan Bryers says, explaining the springs are a place for “good wānanga” [education /knowledge] from various people chatting across various pools.
“If you come to the early morning sessions, you hear from the old ones how to save the world,” Cross laughs.
During the Herald’s visit on a crisp Friday evening in June, South Auckland couple Margaret and Ken Drury - both covered in colourful tattoos – shared the Kotahitanga Pool with a cleanskin stranger, chatting about Ukraine’s future.
In the Tāne Mahuta pool, a one-legged man soaked with members of the Ngāwhā Trust who were preparing for a board meeting. At the same time, a bone-tired cyclist stopped in for his weekly dip, and a group of Aucklanders, supporting their ex-con mate covered in gang tattoos, talked about Kaikohe’s wonderful new drug rehab centre.
To ensure locals aren’t priced out of a soak, the trust has a tiered pricing structure: a two-hour session is $6 for locals; $15 for Northlanders; and $34 for other visitors.
The private pools, called Ngāpuna (which means the springs/drinkable spring) have sandy bottoms and are bubblier than the muddier Ngāwhā Springs. The private pools are available on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at a cost $300 for a two-hour session (two to 10 bathers). Extra bathers $30 each, maximum of 30 people.
The Ngāpuna pools are open to the public on Monday and Tuesday; general entry, $20 per person; Northland concession, $10.
Cross says the trust wanted to look out for locals who had used the pools all their lives.
“They needed to have a price that reflected the economy in this town.”
By “reflecting the economy”, Cross means keeping prices affordable in New Zealand’s poorest region, where the median income is just $545 per week.
Feedback on trip review sites is mixed. On Yelp, a Californian gives the pools five stars and writes “This place is a hidden gem. It’s dirt cheap to get in and well, there’s lot of dirt all around”.
Others, on Ranker and TripAdvisor, have described the pools as “Small holes in the ground filled with dubiously looking, stinky, muddy water” and warned it’s “A great place to meet locals and enjoy a warm bath, but you stink of rotten eggs for a long time afterward”.
Mangamuka resident Mate O’Sullivan has been bringing her two mokopuna up from Porirua to get to know the pools just like she did when she was their age. “There’s a lot of whakapapa kōrero (conversations about people’s ancestry) in the pools,” she says.
She feels “compelled to get the full tinana (body) stretch”, she says, including dunking her head against the lifeguards’ repeated advice about the risk of amoebic meningitis.
She believes the ritual helps with healing pain from old birth-related complications as well as the spiritual pain of partner Ivan passing away in 2024.
The mineral-rich Ngāwhā Springs (Ngāwhā means geothermal or boiling spring) have long been revered for their healing properties. The Solomon pool is said to be best for skin complaints; the Favourite is known for easing chest congestion.
The spring water is untreated but the pools are drained on Mondays and Tuesdays before they gradually refill with hot groundwater.
Some of the healing is spiritual and Ngāwhā Springs has traditionally been a place at which rival warriors could make peace. To this day, Bryers says, every visitor is expected to leave their beef at the door.
Cross says the pools are steadily becoming busier with 350 people a day coming at busy times like school holidays.
“It’s a massive increase. Before [with the old pools] they didn’t have sessions. People just came and stayed all day if they wanted to.”
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