The water works: why hydro therapy is the new travel trend
You’ll walk out of the experience feeling like you’re floating on air – or at least, very clean.
The sky is high and bright over Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula as we set out for a spring dip. It’s early and a chill breeze whips across Bass Strait. By “dip”, I’m not talking – thankfully – about plunging into the icy waters of Port Phillip Bay. Rather, we’re heading to “take the waters” in the Peninsula’s thermal springs. We’re assured it’s relaxing, but on this 9C day the prospect of stripping into swimwear and padding around outside seems a little daunting.
Arriving at Alba Thermal Springs & Spa, though, any reluctance slips away. You can tell the minute you pull into this extraordinary complex that something magical occurs here; a willingness for hours of alfresco submersion appears out of nowhere. Alba – with its edgy contemporary concrete design by Victorian architects Hayball – sits on a 13ha property at Fingal, near the coastal township of Rye.
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Opened in October 2022 after a $100 million build, the imposing complex features more than 30 geothermal mineral pools “naturally heated to between 37C and 43C in underground aquifers 550m below the surface”. The water is rich in minerals – sulphur, calcium, magnesium, potassium – that combine to create a cocktail of aquatic goodness. The healing benefits of hot springs are well documented, with effects ranging from minor (skin exfoliation) to significant (easing the effects of rheumatoid arthritis).
We’re happy with the prospect of improved skin, so set out with fluffy towels and plush robes – included in the entry – to dip in and out of the various pools, each of which has been gifted tranquil-sounding names such as the Shell, the Eye, the Sands and the Falls.
And as we throw aside our robes and race into the warm, soothing water, letting ourselves submerge up to our chins, a quite wonderful thing happens: all the cares of the world start to slip away. The cool overhead skies and whippy breeze now seem all part of nature’s plan, for there are few sensations more gratifying than sinking into a warm bath as the cold air circulates above. The only thing that might lure you out is the prospect of finding an even warmer pool from the many on offer, or the equally beguiling idea of a solid spell in the Swedish sauna. If you relaxed any harder, you might fall asleep.
Alba Thermal Springs & Spa is part of a wellness revolution taking place in this pointy pocket of Victoria. The scenically blessed peninsula once best known for its windswept pastoral lands, rolling vineyards and genteel coastal towns (Rye, Rosebud, Sorrento, Portsea, Dromana) is reinventing itself as a mecca for the health-conscious to come to relax, graze and submerge.
Not far from Alba, at Sorrento’s InterContinental Hotel, for instance, a bathhouse experience of a different kind has opened. The Aurora Spa & Bathhouse is a 500sqm wellness complex centred around the concept of an intensive “bathing ritual”. It’s buried deep in the hotel in a purpose-built space filled with a series of pools of different shapes, sizes and purposes. Change into swimwear before heading into a wet zone where you start with a ritualistic botanical salt rubdown (self-administered, so better than it sounds), followed by a shower.
Then dive into a sky-lit “Daydream” bubbling spa pool (heated to 36C and enriched with magnesium) before spending time trying the variously heated and chilled pools. A reflexology pool (37C) is paved with misshapen stones to stimulate the body from the feet up; a vitality pool (35C) features high-pressure taps that massage the neck and back like a waterfall; the cold plunge (10C) is an ice bath designed to shock the nervous system into recovery mode. Add to that a Nordic sauna, a scented aromatherapy steam room, a halo-therapy salt suite (a low-temperature sauna good for promoting lung health), a “glacial mist room” (in which you are sprayed with 6C water and icy wind to help refresh the body after the sauna) and plenty more, and it adds up to hours of sensory balm.
All of this water activity may sound on paper like hard work, even a kind of physical torture, but it is actually an exhilarating, joyful experience. The physical and psychological benefits of hot and cold therapy are much loved in cold-climate countries from Japan to Norway, and if you haven’t had the courage to try water therapy before, the Mornington Peninsula is the place to start. You’ll walk out of the experience feeling like you’re floating on air – or at least, very clean. So a little bravery goes a long way in these parts. Take the plunge; you will come out feeling a million bucks.
Checklist
Getting there: Mornington Peninsula is a 90-minute drive from Melbourne.
Stay: After your session at Aurora, stumble in a bliss-like state upstairs to The InterContinental Sorrento (sorrento.intercontinental.com). This plush, 108-room hotel was afforded a luxurious overhaul ahead of its reopening last year, and includes several beautiful dining spaces the likes Audrey’s, featuring the food of Melbourne chef Scott Pickett. The hotel dates back to 1875 and its quaint limestone exterior and many original interiors are a highlight; rooms are both luxe and comfortable. There’s also a beautiful rooftop pool and bar in the hotel’s new wing for summer months. Rates start at $425 per night, inclusive of breakfast and underground parking.
Do: The Aurora Spa & Bathhouse (auroraspa.com.au) ritual starts from $85 for a 90-minute session ($110 during peak periods). The spa also offers treatments from body wraps to Himalayan stone massages. Entry to Alba Thermal Springs & Spa (albathermalsprings.com.au) is $80 ($75 for concession holders). Alba also has an extensive and luxurious spa menu. Choose from a range of options from aromatherapy baths ($180 including entry to the springs), exfoliation and Vichy showers ($375) and more extensive facial, massage and pampering packages from $310. Apart from the spas, try, also, calling into some of the magical cellar doors for which the region is famous; beautiful Pt Leo Estate (ptleoestate.com.au) is the pick.
Eat: Hotel Sorrento (hotelsorrento.com.au), across from the InterContinental is another of the town’s stunning heritage properties. This happening pub contains two cracking restaurants including the Dining Room and ShiHuiShi, a sexy modern Chinese venue with excellent food. Hotel Sorrento is also in the throes of an upgrade, with 13 rooms, a 30m pool and a wellness centre to be added to the offering by year’s end.
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