Kaweka Hot Springs

Along the river flats
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Kaweka Hot Springs is a great day walk or beginners tramp. The drive into the start of the track, The Gums Carpark, was rather long and arduous. We intended to do an overnighter and stay at Te Puia Lodge, but after seeing the amount of cars in the carpark we decided to do it as a daywalk. The track up to Te Puia Lodge follows the river up for a couple of hours. It’s fairly flat with only a couple of small uphills. Despite the number of cars Te Puia Lodge only seemed to have 6 people staying. From the hut it’s a 30min walk up to Mangatainoka Hot Springs where there’s a pipe set up funnelling hot water from the springs into two tubs. It was great sitting in the bush in a hot pool. After a peaceful soak we began the walk back. We were about 5 minutes from the carpark when Marc realised he’d left the camera about an hour back down the track so had to run back and get it! I went on and set up the tent at the Gums Camping Area, a free DOC campsite. After Marc arriving back and we had dinner we wandered off to find the Mangatutu Hot Springs. They were beautiful, surrounded by bush looking down on the Mohaka River. Definitely well worth the dusty drive in.