Tonight we went to our first onsen ever! It was awesome! At around 9pm we briskly made our way down to Hyotan Onsen chatting excited about the upcoming treat.

Once we arrived we stored our shoes in the lockers provided and then bought a ticket from the vending machine for a private onsen. We presented our ticket to the ladies at the counter only to discover the next available private onsen wasn't until 10:20pm. Damn! We then inquired about the next available indoor private onsen. Even later! We settled for the outdoor onsen which is what we wanted anyway and headed to the waiting courtyard.

Sitting out in the cool night drinking tea from a vending machine for a bit over an hour definitely added a bit of suspense to the whole event. The time went quickly enough and soon it was our turn to go in.

The lady bustled us around to our private room via a small footpath surrounded by a Japanese garden. Our onsen had its own little dressing room to store our things and then through that door we entered into the outdoor onsen area framed by a small Japanese garden. We also had a private sauna.

We slipped our coin into the machine and the bath started to fill with steaming hot water via a waterfall. Whilst that filled up we quickly washed ourselves in the designated washing area. It was freezing being nude outside in the winter air so it was quite a task!

Once the bath was filled we attempted to step in except it was so hot we ended up dancing around the outside like idiots. It was freezing outside the bath and then too hot in the bath! Quite the catch 22! I'm sure the people around us would've heard our ridiculous squeals. Eventually we braved the heat and plunged in.

Once completely immersed in the water it is very relaxing and your body adjusts quickly. We spent 40mins alternating between the sauna and the bath. The hot water and steam made my heart race and I had to spend a fair bit of time sitting half out of the water because it was difficult to breathe.

After we'd had enough we got out and dried off and dressed. They even provided us with a hair dryer to use! Shannon had bought us a cool Powerade type drink from the vending machine before we went into the private bath area which was lucky because I felt very light headed and a bit sick in the stomach when we first stepped out.

On the walk back to the guesthouse we were both commenting on how relaxed and jelly-like we felt. It was quite incredible. I bet I'll sleep good tonight! Can't wait to try the blue water onsen tomorrow morning.