Mala McAlpin 
On Sunday July 29th, Melbourne’s crown jewel of hydrotherapy spa destinations; Peninsula Hot Springs, unveiled its new Amphitheatre expansion to media, partners and friends of the industry, for an evening of pilates, pampering, bathing and spectacular festivities.
Guests enjoyed a tour of the new Wellness Centre, complete with demos of Reformer Pilates and aerial yoga, before being treated to an express hand massage by some of the best students and graduates Elly Lukas beauty college has to offer.
The evening saw opening speeches from Federal Minister The Hon. Mark Coulton MP, State Minister The Hon. John Eren MP and local Mayor Cr. Bryan Payne, before co-founder & CEO Charles Davidson and General Manager Brook Ramage shared their Peninsula Hot Springs history, journey and vision. Guests were then delighted by a range of musical performances gracing the (brand new) outdoor stage.
A surprise yoga flash mob kicked off more live demonstrations, along with a magic show by The Dreaming Space, a fireside storytelling from Aunty Carolyn, a didgeridoo performance from Lionel Lauch, and music from Nola Lauch and Pete Dawson. Guests also experience roving food and drink, and a number of wellness workshops stationed around the venue.
The expansion of the facilities includes Australia’s first -10°C ice cave, and -25°C deep freeze and sauna experience ‘Fire and Ice’; drawing on Cryotherapy and ancient hot and cold therapies, to offer a unique wellbeing experience for guests. It also houses two new plunge pools and two new saunas, wet and dry, with a capacity of 30 guests each.
In addition to the Fire and Ice experience and the Wellness Centre, there are seven new hot spring pools, food bowl, café, and cultural meeting spaces. The renovations are expected to help attract up to 750,000 visitors to the venue per year.
“Across the world, hot springs have offered wellness experiences that provide lasting physical and mental health benefits,” says Charles Davidson, co-founder and CEO of Peninsula Hot Springs. “Our new Bath House Amphitheatre will not only build on our current bathing offering, but will also provide guests with a means to refresh and rejuvenate their mind, body and soul allowing them to reconnect with nature and the community. We have expanded to allow for additional guests to visit the hot springs and to ensure each visitor will experience even more diverse globally inspired experiences that have never been seen before in Australia and in some cases internationally.”
The new facilities will be open to the public this September. More information on the launch is available via the Peninsula Hot Springs website, or check out SPA+CLINIC’s May issue where they feature as our Spa Hotspot.
