Hi, it’s Sara!! Fun fact, I’m actually afraid of water. I love the ocean, I love the lakes and rivers I’ve seen here in New Zealand, but large bodies of water and the thought of being in them scares me. So when I found The Secret Sauna at Lake Hawea, I was nervous but knew that I had to try it.

The Secret Sauna

Here’s another fun fact about myself and water, I actually hate being wet. Especially my hands. I’m fine when they’re submerged in water, but the minute they’re out they need to be dry. It also really bothers me when I realize that I’ve dried off my hands and then find a spot that isn’t dry and realize I didn’t even feel it. But this isn’t really a phobia, just something that bothers me and I can move past easily enough. Okay, enough with the fun facts, let’s get to the fun part.

The Secret Sauna is not far from where I’m staying and with my love of health and wellness ( and scouting out possible places and activities for retreats) I booked a session to try it out. You can do either a private sauna experience or a shared one. And being the introvert and loner that I am, I was very tempted to pay the extra money to get a sauna all to myself. Instead I booked the shared sauna and was admittedly nervous when I showed up because since I’m solo traveling that meant I’d be with a bunch of strangers.

Follow The Kiwi

The great thing about New Zealanders though is that in general they’re very welcoming and are loads of fun. So I wasn’t overly anxious about being with a bunch of strangers and was actually more hopeful that I’d get some positive peer pressure from them to step out of my comfort zone. And that’s exactly what happened!

The way the sauna experience works is that you have 1 hour, and in that time you have 3 sessions in the sauna up to 15 minutes long. When those 15 minutes are up you can either take a cold plunge in Lake Hawea or just relax outside for a few minutes. 

I’ve been in a sauna before, but nothing like this one. It was first of all stunning. Set on the shore of Lake Hawea, each sauna looks like a giant wooden barrel and inside has a big window overlooking the lake. And inside each sauna it is HOT. After about 30 seconds you are just dripping in sweat. Now you don’t have to stay inside for the full 15 minutes, but I’m no quitter and the very nice Kiwi sitting next to me asked me a bunch of questions about myself and my life. And he was also a pro at the sauna and cold plunge and does them regularly. So I chatted with him and followed his lead.

Hot, Cold, or Both?

Right before the 15 minutes are up, someone who runs the sauna comes in, puts some water with essential oils over the hot stones and basically helicopters a towel to spread the steam over the whole sauna. And the heat is intense. So much so that I had to cover my face with my hands. I had to keep repeating to myself that I was okay and it’s almost over and I can handle it. And I did! I stepped out of the sauna and was faced with the next challenge, the cold plunge.

I’ve never been interested in doing a cold plunge. I hate being cold. Who would willingly subject themselves to being in ice cold water when we have hot water from the tap at our disposal? But when you’re with a group of Kiwis and they’re all running out of the sauna and to the lake you do what any logical person would do, you follow.

A New Level of Wet

A quick google search tells me that the average water temperature of Lake Hawea is between 8.9-10 degrees celsius (which is only 48-50 degrees fahrenheit). Cue the shivering and loss of feelings in my extremities. Now I know that although I’d rather ease into water this cold, that’s actually the worst way to do it. The water is so cold it would take way too long to adjust to that temperature. So I followed my new friend and walked right into the lake up to my waist and then submerged myself to my shoulders. I stayed as long as I could and yes my hands did get extremely cold. But thankfully we didn’t stay in that long because it was time to get back in the sauna.

And let me tell you something, going back and forth between the hot from the sauna and the cold from the lake is a whole different kind of wet than I’ve ever experienced. You’re not only wet from the lake and the cold plunge, but now you’re also dripping sweat. And the two types of being wet feel totally different. It’s laughable really. And you know what? It was so fun and magical.

Leave Your Comfort Zone

It was not only great for my own health and wellness. But it also really pushed me mentally and physically out of my comfort zone. That’s one of the things that I’ve loved so much about my adventures so far. I’m trying new things, meeting new people, and doing things I otherwise wouldn’t normally do. And I’m learning just how capable I am along the way.

If there’s one piece of advice I can give you right now, it would be to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s big or small doesn’t matter. But try something new, try something you’ve always wanted to do. Try it in a group, try it by yourself. Just go try. You’re going to see that you are so capable. And maybe it’ll help give you the courage to follow a bigger dream of yours, one step at a time.