The hot springs, mud pools and sulphuric geysers of this sacred Maori land have been home to tourism for sometime and you can tell, however, they are still very impressive and the geothermal landscape spreads over a considerable area. We managed to stay at hot bath site called Waitaka Valley springs, allowing us to swim in a series of hot pools both at night and the following morning before the public had arrived and we had the place to ourselves.