Lake Hawea seen here. Incredibly clean and beautiful! Sunny day too.

Such a nice little lookout.

This was the entrance to the sauna we booked. Very quaint and cute!

The check in for the sauna was in some little yurt. Pretty adorable.

We didn’t know what to expect other than to get our swim suits on and get into the sauna.

Upon entering the sauna we realized quickly this was not for the faint of heart. Amidst our hangover we found ourselves in a 100 degree Celsius (this is facts) sauna.

We both sat inside this pressure cooker of a sauna and tried not to simultaneously laugh and cry. I realized I needed to upchuck but the place was so “rustic” they didn’t have washrooms. Lol.

We quickly wondered why we paid $200 for this seemingly hell like experience. We also questioned why we thought it was a good idea to have this experience while being hungover.

The fairy like Kiwi woman popped into the sauna and sprinkled the “secret” oil made only by the “secret sauna” over the rocks. It quickly steamed up a nice and fragrant aroma while also increasing the humidity. This part was actually quite nice.

This little angel of a woman reassured us we just needed to do the cold plunge in the lake to make it more digestible.

Turns out the lake was down a series of loose wet rocks alongside a steep entry into the lake with more rocks. The wind made the lake look like an ocean and Eric and I started to question our medical travel insurance policy and how this would hold up if we got injured. Haha.

I decided to be a seal and to crouch on the large rocks beside the waves and let them hit me. Eric’s new shorts we just purchased were two sizes too small and he feared what would happen if he bent over into the water. 😂.

We repeated the sauna and walk to the water cycle 3 times before our hour was up.

To our surprise, by the end of the hour we actually felt quite good and relaxed.

This is a photo of Eric in the yurt after our sauna session feeling relaxed.

Here is me smiling through the urge to vomit but also feeling relaxed.

Who would’ve thought both sensations could exist at once?!

We then made our way via car to check in at our hotel- at the iconic cardrona hotel.

We quickly showered and made our way to the restaurant for our reservation.

Here is my view from the restaurant which was very adorably decorated. Turns out it’s the oldest hotel in New Zealand- made in 1863!

Eric being cute and stuff near the fire!

Here is the adorable little menu they had.

We found the food to be really great here as well!

We quickly made our way back to the hotel room in hopes of watching a movie. Turns out the room doesn’t have wifi (you have to pay for it) and the television had 6 channels that you could somewhat see through the static 😅

I suppose staying at the oldest hotel in New Zealand comes with some outdated services.

A little snapshot of our room. Thought I’d ordered us a king bed and turns out it was two singles 😂

That’s a wrap for day 4.