Maruia Springs is a settlement in the

West Coast Region The West Coast () is a region of New Zealand on the west coast of the South Island. It is administered by the West Coast Regional Council, and is known co-officially as Te Tai Poutini. It comprises the territorial authorities of Buller Distri ...

of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. It is located on the south bank of the

Maruia River The Maruia River is located in the northwestern South Island of New Zealand. It is a major tributary of the Buller River, flowing for 80 km before joining the larger river eight kilometres to the west of Murchison, New Zealand, Murchison. T ...

on State Highway 7 to the west of the

Lewis Pass Lewis Pass is the northernmost of the three main mountain passes through the Southern Alps in the South Island of New Zealand. With an elevation of 907 metres, it is slightly lower than Arthur's Pass and higher than Haast Pass. The pass is ...

. The settlement is named for the nearby

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s. While not as commercially exploited as other southern hot water springs (such as those at

Hanmer Springs Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, known for its hot pools. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te Ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means "where the ashes of Tamate ...

) it is still a popular spot with visitors.Sabin, B.,
Maruia Hot Springs: Inside New Zealand's hidden mountain hot springs
" ''wwww.stuff.co.nz'', 1 March 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021. Water at , or more, is pumped from springs and from a well to a hotel, Japanese bath house, six private spas and two rock pools. The hot spring is probably fed through the nearby

Awatere Fault The Awatere Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses— ...

. The hot pools at Maruia have been known to Māori people for hundreds of years and used by jade traders as a place to rest and rejuvenate on their gruelling walk over to the West Coast. In the late 1800s, European settlers built rustic huts, and over the next century, this eventually turned into a hotel.

References

Populated places in the West Coast Region Hot springs of New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-geo-stub