Secret Spot is no secret anymore.
The hot tub and bar complex has been drawing between 70 and 250 visitors a day since opening six weeks ago.
The 12 tubs and eight "shinny dip" foot tubs are filled with water drawn from a nearby spring which is then heated with biofuel, filtered with sand and circulated every 20 minutes.
Director Eric Kolver and general manager Keith Kolver grew up on a farm near Paengaroa.
The brothers' niche business idea came out of "a brainstorm in a rainstorm" five-and-a-half years ago.
Keith had an old canoe and they took it for a 60km trip in Te Urewera.
"We got caught in a rainstorm on the last day and we were freezing, There were big strong winds. So we started thinking happy thoughts. I thought of mulled wine, Eric thought of hot tubs and then the idea just sort of expanded over the afternoon."
A few weeks later Eric crunched some numbers and called Keith.
"I reckon it's a goer," he said. "Are you keen?"
They say the project has been "good fun" since but could have been part of the Grand Designs television series.
"It took a bit longer, cost a little bit more but the result is really awesome," Eric said.
"We used to ride when this [Waipa] was a gravel car park and you'd have a beer at the back of the car and a catch-up. Really what we've tried to do is recreate that but in a nicer setting."
Twelve people are now employed by the complex.
The land is owned by Red Stag and Secret Spot has a long-term lease.
The first people through their doors on October 3 were 120 locals from businesses and organisations involved in getting the business going.
The brothers said their visitor numbers will grow summer nears, word gets out and as locals make the most of discounts this month.
They say they are not just drawing forest users - some soakers have never been to Waipa before.
Businesses have also started booking the space for Christmas parties, and members the Black Sticks women's team took time out in the tubs during their Rotorua training camp last week.
Secret Spot is the latest completed addition in the ongoing Waipa redevelopment, a three-minute drive south from Te Puia along State Highway 5.
In 2016 Rotorua Lakes Council committed to a 10-year revitalisation plan for the area allowing $1.08 million to be spent there.
The council has built extra parking, a bypass road, a bridge, and added landscaping.
It also recently refurbished the toilets and showers and extended access hours to the site - gates are now shut at 11pm instead of 8.30pm.
The international BMX track construction is also almost complete.
The fire took place around midnight and took firefighters three hours to control.
