Visitors bound to get into hot water

Worker Frank De Lorenzo stands on a stone cairn, reminiscent of Lindis Pass rock piles, at the...
Worker Frank De Lorenzo stands on a stone cairn, reminiscent of Lindis Pass rock piles, at the site of new business venture Hot Tubs Omarama. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Things are hotting up in Omarama with the opening of a new business venture, Hot Tubs Omarama.

Owners Lance and Jan Thomas hope to open the complex late next month on a prominent 3ha site between State Highway 8 and the Omarama Stream on the north boundary of the town.

It will feature eight hot tubs on private sites with changing rooms and two "wellness pods" with hot-tubs, saunas and changing rooms.

There will also be a public sauna and dip pool, and massage therapy will be on offer.

Mr Thomas has owned the land for some years and was originally going to use it for a freshwater crayfish farm.

The couple became hooked on hot tubs after trying the hot tub of a friend, Berund Folkerts, and they then got one at their Timaru home.

Mr Folkerts, of Aorangi Hardwoods, built the tubs for the Omarama complex.

The hot tub project had been a "labour of love" involving family and friends over the past four years, Mrs Thomas said this week.

A diesel boiler is used to heat the water which is then pumped, with no chemicals added, to the sites.

It is drained from each wooden tub after use, and the used water pumped to a heat exchanger before being used for irrigation, making the venture environmentally friendly, she said.

The site has been extensively landscaped, with a pond in the centre of the complex, and native plantings and rock features.

The complex will be open 9am until 10pm year-round.

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