It was a wet, blustery day on the Mornington Peninsula, but the outdoor geothermal pool we were bobbing around in was a bone-warming 38 degrees. For the next hour we roamed through the gardens of the Alba Thermal Springs, dipping in and out of 30 bubbling mineral pools, ice-cold plunge pools, steam rooms and saunas until we were as pink as piglets. Later we ate crab croquettes inside the vast, concrete temple of wellness where guests silently shuffled around in white bathrobes on their way to one of the 22 treatment rooms for a massage, floral milk bath or cryo-facial.
This is the latest, swankiest addition to the network of eight hot springs retreats and sea baths popping up near Melbourne in Australia’s southern state of Victoria. The discovery of underground geothermal springs, rich with healing minerals, kickstarted a new bathing boom. It will eventually lead to the creation of the Great Victorian Bathing Trail, a 900km route which is set to rival the Colorado Hot Springs in the US, New Zealand’s Thermal Explorer Highway and Switzerland’s Grand Tour Deluxe.
