Sparkling Hill Resort Spa Weekend

I think part of the reason I was able to deal with last weekend (aside from the awesome activities) was because I knew I had sufficient relaxation planned in my future. O'Hara had his birthday(s) on Thursday so as a late 1 year anniversary celebration we decided to go to Sparkling Hill Resort.

Now, the first I thought I may like to go here was when I read about it in the Sydney Morning Herald. Yep, it took a recommendation from a travel section in an Australian newspaper before I believed it was cool. We did also have multiple friends who'd stayed there and said it was awesome, but the first I heard about it was in the paper. 

Crystals, crystals everywhere! 

 So why is it called Sparkling Hill? It's really freaking sparkly! They've decked the place out with around 1.9 million Swarovski Crystals! That's a sparkly resort. They're literally everywhere, it's pretty.

We left after work and stayed Friday and Saturday. It seems you need at least two nights, as there is loads of things to do and check-in isn't until 4pm. When staying at the hotel you have access to the spas and pools, and breakfast is included (and amazing). Dinner at the restaurant isn't really worth the price, but Vernon is very close by so we did one night in town. It was the first time I had restaurant Thai since leaving Australia. So good! There are all sorts of different saunas and spas, hot, cold, super hot (+90degC), steamed, dry, scented. Our bodies experienced a variance of 200 deg Celsius during the weekend. Yep! I also confirmed that I am the sweatiest person in the world. About 3 sec into any of the hot rooms (steam or dry) and I am actually dripping. Most people were looking a little clammy, I literally looked like I'd just got out of a pool. Gross.

Relaxation in the tea room and sunny times

Luckily for us were experiencing an early heat wave, so paid off-season prices but had 30deg weather. It was wonderful. For our indulgent treatments I had a full body scrub and a facial, O'Hara had a headache massage and we both tried the Cold Sauna. Also O'Hara did not hate it. Our Australian friends know just how much he likes to wear a robe and slippers! NYE? Anyone?

So, the Cold Sauna at Sparkling Hill was the first in North America. I can't work out if there are more available now, apparently they're used quite extensively in Germany and Japan. It's basically 3 rooms, -10deg C, -50deg C and -110deg C. You read right, MINUS one hundred and ten degrees Celsius. So what does that feel like? Painful!! It's a dry cold so they say it's "comfortable", though about as comfortable as it can possibly be at -110. You wear bathers, socks, shoes, a mask and headband. There is a lot of exposed skin and you're there for 3 minutes. It's supposed to be amazing for pain management, inflammation, arthritis and injuries/surgery. As we don't have any of those, it was more for the experience! Worth it, but I don't need to do it again unless needed!

My badarse weekend outfit and O'Hara blowdrying his hair so it doesn't freeze. BAHAHA

It was a wonderful weekend away. Our only complaint was the fridge in our room didn't actually cool anything. We tried all the different settings, called front desk to get ice, and a guy came to service it. Instead of fixing it though he handed us a lukewarm can of coke and said "See! It is cooling a bit". Apparently all the fridges are like that? It's not the first hotel we've had that problem with in Canada. I think it's really just an attempt to make you purchase their booze. Sadly we were drinking our last bottle of wedding sparkling from Aus, so it was a bit sad to be drinking it warm!

Next time we go there we'll make sure the fridge is cold!