Wairakei Terraces & Thermal Health Spa — Attraction in North Island

DROWNING WITNESSED - STAFF NEED TRAINING.

We were there last Thursday and witnessed a man pulled from the water unconscious by other visitors / swimmers. We understand that these pools are not supervised by lifeguards but the staff response was utterly atrocious, inappropriate, unprofessional and scary.

After the man was pulled from the water unconscious and convulsing. It appeared he fainted from the heat and slipped under the water while alone in the hottest top pool. Fellow swimmers started to provide first aid assistance. Luckily one swimmer was an off duty paramedic.

Other swimmers ran to the front desk to notify staff. A male staff member came strolling in casually with not an ounce of urgency and asked if he was ok and if he needed some water - they were struggling to find a pulse and get him to breath, so it was quite clear he did not need a drink of water.

The off duty paramedic asked the staff member if they had a medical kit, to which he asked what she would want out of it, and she replied exasperated to just bring everything. He strolled off at a snails pace. He eventually returned without anything and asked if anyone had called an ambulance (which they had). Frankly he had no idea what he was doing or how to handle the situation.

Another staff member (younger female) turned up around 15 minutes later. Her primary concern was that a child of one of the people caring for the man was in the facility. Before checking on how the man was or providing any assistance, she was right onto the person providing assistance telling them that their child can't be there and they must leave or get the child out of the facility.

The ambulance turned up after some time and thankfully the man had recovered considerably by that time and everything seemed to turn out OK. But... the staff in this situation showed absolutely no competence in handling or responding to the events, openly told others they didn't know CPR, were in no rush, didn't follow simple instructions from an on-scene paramedic and lacked any ounce of priority while focusing on the fact a member of the public's child was there while they were saving a man's life.

Staff need more training - both in providing simple medical assistance (even if they aren't lifeguards) and what is appropriate in a similar situation.

It appeared that this all happened due to the top pool being well in excess of the 40 degree warning and he fainted and fell unconscious. Recommend that if the water temperature rises too high that this particular pool is closed. The pool was temp checked following the event and the talk around the place was that it was around 45 degrees. We tried putting our feet in and couldn't keep them in there for longer than a few seconds.

Other than this experience, the facility is good, but leaving it as 1 star as this experience was fairly traumatic and the staff response was utterly...

We enjoyed our visit - me as observer, partner as bather. As they make clear these are replica terraces but they’ve been made pretty well. And has time passes they’re acquiring some algae and the patina of age which makes them less artificial. The terraces are fed from a thermal spring at the top of the site. The water flows down through three pools cooling from about 40 degrees in the upper to 26 in the lower. Overall a good bathing experience. A ‘nice to have’ would be an additional refreshing cool pool large enough to swim in. Their recommendation is not to shower afterwards in order to get the full therapeutic benefit of the waters. But if you did wish to shower the changing room has one. These facilities are clean and practical, but not luxurious. The cafe is fine and the latte and muffin were good, but service was not as friendly as it should be. There’s a short walk around the site which was in ok condition though there was cyclone damage to the woods next door. Regardless of that the walk would be enhanced significantly by better planting especially on the upper right hand side. This would screen out the service road and great big pipes beyond. At the top of the walk by the hot spring there’s one of the better Māori carvings we’ve seen. It’s cut out of a huge tree trunk and is very impressive. Oddly there’s no explanatory plaque nor is there any detail about it in their brochure. One of the great features of this monumental carving is that the wood has been left natural. There’s another couple in the garden and more mention could be made of them. Compare and contrast this aesthetic with the almost universal reddish orangey colour that used on most of the carvings one sees. It’s an unattractive shade and makes the carvings look artificial. I asked a senior Māori about this. He told me that traditionally the wood would have been oiled, but that nowadays paint is quicker!

Having said that, take a look on the left-hand side of the venue and you’ll see some quite impressive carvings...

Wairakei Terraces and Thermal Health Spa is touted as one of New Zealand's premier geothermal locations! 👍

Of course it is the perfect way to unwind and relax. The geothermal waters boast a range of healing properties including detoxifying, and relieving aches and pains ☺😌

People have bathed in the waters of Wairakei for generations and its healing and therapeutic benefits are now receiving worldwide acclaim in the field of natural holistic therapies 😊☺

The waters, rich in silica, sulphate, magnesium, potassium, and a whole host of other valuable minerals, can assist with a whole array of health ailments 💙 Positioned underneath the silica terraces and a beautiful waterfall, the pool's dazzling blue waters provide the perfect surroundings for the ultimate in rest and relaxation 🙂

The vivid blue pools cascade beautifully over the terraces, carrying the silica which helped form these amazing natural platforms 💧

I love that you can actually see the mineral rich water spill over the silica terraces into the pool. There is no doubt where the water comes from 👀 The first pool closest to the terraces is a minimum of 40 degrees Celcius 🥵 Bliss! The second pool is much cooler, and I mainly moved between the two. The third pool has a medium temperature 🌡

To replicate the natural terrain, the pools were also built in terraces, and sit among lush trees and woodlands 🌴🌲One problem I experienced is that the steps leading into the pool is also terraced and difficult to see. They are different heights, lengths, and widths, and the same colour as the water. I nearly fell in one spot, getting into the pool 😡😠 There are also no water fountains, and you have to make the quite long trek back to the main building to fill your water bottle

It was heaven to just let life's daily stresses run free from my mind as I relaxed and heard the native birds in their natural...