The Hits: Adam faces backlash after letting out a well known secret

Adam Green from The Hits

It sounded too good to be true. Hot pools. In the middle of the bush.

With a river ford, and gravel roads to travel. A perfect blend of intrepid aspiration and also the ability to drive to within 180 metres of the final destination. All the while listening to Paul Simon's Graceland and trying to educate my family on why Call Me Al was one of the greatest songs of 1986.

Just enough adventure to step outside the usual trip to the park, where I'd occasionally risk a fling on the flying fox and a well-timed leap from the third step up, but not quite booking a trip to central India with no real accommodation plan and $70 spending money.

But it was when I revealed a picture of the pools on the internet that the real adventure began. An adventure that involved dodging a few metaphorical bullets and hopefully calming those I had wronged.

I'd unwittingly revealed a few people's "secret spot". Like a fisherman who'd once caught a 20 pound snapper and forever more held a closely guarded GPS co-ordinate, some people hold places like this near and dear to their heart.

And they let me know online. "Thnks for letting evryone no. I won't be going bck" read one message promptly hammered out with angry fingers.

A flurry of rapidly tapped typos, the anger palpable as in their hurriedness to get the message across, they'd skipped letters in favour of a hasty response.

But where had I discovered this bastion of bathing? This Atlantis of the New Zealand bush? The secret map was not handed down through the generations from my father's father's father to me, nor was it whispered to me in the corner of some dark alley. No.
I googled it.

It was the second result on the page when I typed in Hawke's Bay hot pools. And there was only one other person there when we went to check it out!

Turns out getting there is a little bit of a mission, and to just drive out for a quick dip is not something you'd do every day!

Thankfully the rest of the responses were overwhelmingly positive, and it seems like loads of us have made the journey across the river, along the gravel tracks, and out to that small but amazing piece of New Zealand.

Now If only I could convince someone to give me the co-ordinates for that 20 pound snapper.