Morere Hotsprings

Located 40 kilometres to the northeast of Wairoa and 60 kilometres to the southwest of Gisborne, Morere Hot Springs is a 363-hectare reserve. It is one of the last remaining tracts of coastal native forest on the east coast. Surrounded by beautiful trees and a ton of rainforest, Morere Hot Springs is a hot pool under shelter predominantly for relaxation. However, it also gives an excellent opportunity to socialize with other people. It consists of 8 pools, each with different temperatures.

Morere Springs is famous not just for the hot springs but also for its scenic reserve that is accessible by many different walking tracks. The track can be a 25-minute or a 2-hour long walk. The trails consist of the Nikau Pool track, Nikau Loop track, Mangakawa track and Ridge track, which take 15 minutes, 25 minutes, 2.5 hours and 2 hours to cover, respectively. Walking in these tracks, one can get a tropical feel with lots of Palm trees, Nakau Palms in particular. Nikau means ‘No coconuts’ in Maori. But these palms have pretty pink flowers on them. One can learn a lot about the forest from the interpretation alongside the walk. One can also learn more about the spring waters that go into the Morere Hot Springs. The water used here is known as fossilized seawater because it is travelled for thousands of years before bubbling up to the surface and being used to pump into the hot springs. The spring looks like a tiny stream of water, but it produces 250,000 litres of water every day.