Set in the heart of South Waikato, the Blue Spring is a source of water so clear and pure it supplies around 60% of New Zealand’s bottled water.
Fed from the Mamaku Plateau, the water is filtered for up to 100 years resulting in the pristine and picturesque spring you can visit on the 4.7-kilometre Te Waihou Walkway, which takes about three hours, return.
Pass wetlands, rolling pasture and native bush to reach the spring, so clear and blue that it doesn’t quite seem real.
Water flows from the spring fast enough to fill a 25-metre swimming pool in just 12 minutes and is a constant 11º year-round.
But don’t be tempted by its seductive beauty: like most fragile treasures it needs protecting, so you can look but don’t touch – or in this case, swim.
