Maori have a long tradition of natural holistic health practices that have been handed down through the generations and are now being received by a worldwide culture interested in health, wellness and natural medicine. The waters and clays of Wairakei were highly valued by Maori for their healing powers and therapeutic benefits. At the turn of the last century, travelers world wide came by train, by horse or stagecoach to ‘take the waters’, testifying to its ‘remarkable curative properties’. Visitors can now bathe in a series of hot thermal pools rich in minerals, uniquely situated below magnificent silica terraces that provide a ‘feel back in time’ sensation, leaving you warm long after you have left the water