Woop Woop! And well worth the roaming around it was. I’ve never been in a proper wild hot pool til now, and it’s so exciting to pretend like you’ve ‘discovered’ this little secret place.
So,
Where’s this Hot Pool?
From the Windy Point/Lewis Pass end of the Harpers Pass section, you head out of Hurunui hut for an hour til you see the McKenzie Stream signpost, continue on towards No.3 Hut. After 10 mins or so you see the first waterfall across the path (down in a gully). 20 mins or so later you’re looking for the second ‘waterfall’. The path should literally walk over the stream part way up this open rocky area where the water tumbles down a cliff to the river bed below. We’d cut down off the path around 20 mins after the first waterfall to walk along the valley bottom and look upward for the steep rock cascade. It was much more obvious to see from that vantage point. A wide area of dark faceted stone, sprinkled with green slime :) Nice! Cutting back up the far side of it we found a path leading to the top of the cascade where a small pool filled the width of the rocky area. Tadaaa! Get your pants off, it’s The Hot Pool!