Amethyst Hot Springs

Amethyst Hot Springs, along with Sylvia Flats, are the only easy-toreach natural hot springs on the South Island. Also like Sylvia Flats (B5) these springs are along a flood-prone river bank and the quality of the pools depends on the enthusiasm of the digger-outers. Unlike Sylvia Flats though, very few mainstream guidebook authors, and thus few travelers, know of the existence of the Amethyst hot pools. Every winter the Wanganui River floods and re-engineers its channel, recently washing away the road where you now park. By the time you’re reading this the river and the path may have changed again and the pools may have been swamped under a new load of sand. Whether the Amethyst hot pools are “good” is anyone’s guess, but at least it doesn’t take a long detour to investigate. Hope these pix can direct you fairly well to find the hot pool, and at least the entire adventure is only minutes off the main Westland SH 6 travel route…Go See!

What you get, at least as of Feb 2010, is a sandy two-person shoveledout hot pool—too hot for a sunny day, but perfect in typical Westland grey. It’s best to bring some sort of digging implement with you, even if it’s just a traveler’s cooking pan. At dusk and dawn sandflies WILL definitely swarm, as well as on grey days. You Are Warned! Just like at Sylvia Flats though, the sandflies go to bed at dark leaving just you, your mermaid, a box of wine, and the Southern Cross rising over the mountains. If you visit by day, even if the springs are too hot, the huge sandy riverbed “beach” surrounding the pools makes a great place to play Frisbee, skip stones, and lessen your tan lines.

The Amethyst hot pool area is also perfect short overnight tent outing— just set up camp on the huge sandbar (of course, not when rain pours and flood threatens). There’s heaps of available driftwood for a nice night of hot-pool ‘n’ bonfire riversong serenity.

Pssst, nobody tell Lonely Planet about this spot!

WALK: From the road-end “Wanganui Valley” sign head straight for the river then follow the user-path along the top of the bluff where the road was washed away. The springs are just 1km ahead along the sandy left bank of the river. Go through some bush and then onto the “closed” road for a few hundred meters to the Amethyst Stream bridge. Cross the bridge and go exactly 200m and look for the path on the right leading quickly down to the Wanganui Riverbed. At the riverbed the springs are to the right (downstream), halfway to mouth of the Amethyst Stream, tucked next to the bush line. (As you emerge from the path to the riverbed, make sure to take a look back so you can find the path on the way out—it’s easy to misplace.)