He Puna Taimoana Hot Pools
Seaside complex of hot saltwater pools, sauna and steam room tucked into the beachfront dunes.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to He Puna Taimoana in Christchurch starts in the water and reaches back to the early nineteen hundreds, when Howey's Hydro Baths stood across the road and bathers made bold claims about heated seawater. It asks who Howey was, and why a beach suburb held on to one old habit. Along the way you'll hear where the pools' name came from and the two Māori gods the architects set out to balance. Best heard from the hottest pool, facing the dunes.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Corsair Bay Beach
Sheltered harbour swimming cove with a prisoner-built sea wall, jetty, raft and bathing-era remnants.
New Brighton Pier
Concrete ocean pier stretching three hundred metres over the surf, rebuilt on an old pleasure-pier site.
Cave Rock / Tuawera
Volcanic seaside outcrop with a walk-through tidal cave, rock pools and a stone signal hut on top.
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Public art museum behind a rippling glass façade, built over an artesian spring.