Tekapo Springs « Wotif.com's ultimate nine day Tiki tour of Canterbury, NZ

Everywhere I stayed on my trip around New Zealand was outstanding, but I was still pretty excited about staying at Peppers Bluewater Resort. It sounded like such a relaxing place to stay, and it really helped that plenty of people had raved about it to me before I got there. I would tend to agree with those people — I really enjoyed my time at Peppers and would definitely recommend it to anyone staying in Tekapo.

First of all, the location is fantastic. It wasn’t right on the water as I thought it might be, but rather, on the other side of the main highway. However, the entire resort is elevated above the level of the highway, giving the rooms in the front block of units (and some of the higher ones in the back blocks) stunning views all across Lake Tekapo. At sunrise, I stood on the balcony and watched red and orange outline the silhouettes of the mountains then saw the golden tussock all around me light up in the golden early morning light. It was a great consolation for having to be up that early in the first place!

You could walk to many places in Tekapo from the hotel, as it is situated only a few hundred meters down the main road from the village centre. The Church of the Good Shepherd is a bit further but is still easily walkable.

The service was outstanding as well. When I arrived, I had a plate of chocolates and various other goodies waiting for me on the table, along with a note describing all the different amenities the room had to offer (like an espresso machine!). They even provided me with a pair of binoculars for looking out at the surrounding area! Also, importantly for me, I was able to call reception at about 5am to sort out a replacement internet card (mine had expired).

The room itself had everything I needed, plus much, much more. I didn’t use the included espresso machine (so I couldn’t test their claim that 40s would give you the perfect coffee), nor did I use the TV or various other assorted electronics. I did try to use the air conditioner, without a lot of success (although I’m sure if I called reception they would have explained it to me). I wanted to leave it on a low heat overnight because Tekapo was a lot colder than my other destinations; however, it seemed like even when I put it on 28 degrees, it was still pumping out cold air. Obviously, I didn’t know which combination of buttons to hit to make it work like I wanted!

Everything I did use was great though — there was a huge coffee table for spreading out my array of cameras, memory cards, and hard drives that I had to transfer between each night and the couch was comfy. The bed itself was incredibly comfortable and had enough soft sheets and blankets on it that I wasn’t cold despite not being able to work out the heating situation. The bathroom came complete with bathtub and shower, and I could have stood under the shower for hours (especially after coming in freezing from the hot springs!).

Each morning, I ate at the breakfast buffet in the main reception/dining area. It was a typical buffet with both continental and hot breakfast options. They also had a wide array of juices, including kiwifruit juice (which was good in small amounts). Even if you’re not eating breakfast at the hotel, you should go to the patio outside the dining room just to see the reflections in the pond.

Overall, even though I was quite busy in Tekapo and didn’t get to spend a lot of time at Peppers, I really enjoyed my stay there. In combination with Tekapo Springs, it would be a perfect relaxing retreat from the grind of daily life.

Peppers Bluewater Resort is located on State Highway 8 in Tekapo. Rooms can be booked through Wotif.com.

After following a jam-packed itinerary for eight days, I was excited about the prospect of spending a relaxing evening in the hot pools at Tekapo Springs. But before that, I was hoping to try out a few of the adventurous activities on offer, including tubing down the first summer tube track in New Zealand.

I ended up getting to Tekapo Springs slightly later than I’d planned, so I arrived just as the sun was setting. Sad that I’d probably missed the last of the tubing, I asked at reception if there was any chance that the track was still open. They weren’t sure, so they called over Mike, who handles marketing at the newly rebranded hot springs (which were previously known as Alpine Springs). He was very friendly and really interested in all the other things I’d been able to do in the area, so we had a great chat as he walked me around the facilities and over to the tube track.

This track, unlike the winter track where as many as six kids could fly down the hill at once, is designed for one tube. It goes down a pretty decent incline and has a few hairpin turns before you slowly slide to a halt. Because the surface isn’t all that slippery on its own, the tubes have to be painted with a film of lube to get them going…but boy, do they get some pace! After my first run, the guy working the tube ride said it was the fastest the track had been in a long time…so of course that meant we needed to go again, this time as a double (where we each held on to the other’s tube). The added weight gave us so much momentum that I thought we might go flying off the side! It was great fun though.

As I was putting on my helmet prior to the tube ride, Mike came over again and said an appointment had opened up at the day spa, and would I like to have an hour-long massage? The answer was a resounding yes! Since I finished on the tubes just before 6.30, I had time to hop in the pools for a quick soak before my treatment.

The three hot pools at Tekapo Springs are at three slightly different heights, so people in each pool can have unobscured views of Lake Tekapo both during the day and on nights where the full moon lights up the lake. All three are named after large lakes in the region. As you move further away from the lake, the pools get warmer, with the coolest being around 36C and the warmest around 40C. For my short soak, I chose Pukaki, the middle pool.

One thing I noticed about Tekapo Springs was the relatively small number of people there compared to Hanmer Springs. As a whole it was less crowded and quieter in the pools. I much preferred it this way.

When I jumped out of the pool to go to my massage, I also realised how much colder it was in Tekapo than it had been a few hundred kilometers to the northeast in Hanmer. Brrr! It wasn’t quite freezing, but it must have been close as my car was coated in a layer of ice the next morning.

The massage was exactly what I needed after eight days of very exciting, but somewhat tiring, travel. In an hour, Petra (a Slovenian trained as a physiotherapist) got rid of much of the tension in my back, neck, arms, and legs (yes, even my bad knee!) while we chatted about traveling around NZ. Afterwards, I was incredibly relaxed and thought the perfect way to follow it up would be with a nice long soak in the hot pools (something Petra wholeheartedly agreed with).

Even though I also had access to the many other facilities at the hot springs, including the ice rink and the saunas, I chose to spend the last hour before closing time switching between the two of the three hot pools. I wish I’d had more time to explore everything that Tekapo Springs has to offer, but I was perfectly content just lounging and trying to strike that perfect balance between the chill of the autumn air and the heat of the bubbling pools.

I found that Tekapo Springs struck the perfect balance between fun activities and relaxation. I would be perfectly happy spending an entire getaway to Tekapo here, especially in the winter when everything is coated in a fine layer of snow.

Tekapo Springs is located at 6 Lakeside Drive in Tekapo and is open from 10am-9pm daily. The hot pools and Tahr Bar & Cafe are open year round, with the ice skating open from April to September. The summer tubing track is open from October-June and the snow tubing is open in the winter months.