Three Kiwi friends are putting a local twist on the centuries-old Scandinavian tradition of sauna with mobile steam rooms that can be towed and parked up anywhere.
The idea of building a handcrafted mobile sauna was at first a "garage project", says Luke Mexted, co-director of The Sauna Project.
There are proven health benefits to sweating it out at high temperatures, he tells Kathryn Ryan.
“I think the first one that people think of is being in a hot box and getting quite sweaty and that is a big part of it - the detoxification is very important.
“But we've got a lot of other benefits and there's a lot of supporting research around it with blood flow, increased immune function, improved sleep, stress management and also cardiovascular. [benefits]”
Luke and his friends David Seidel and Keelan Kanji first got into saunas while living in Queenstown.
“We moved back to [Mount Maunganui] and were using a sauna that was kind of tucked away in the male changing room. And it was just not really promoted in a way that was accessible for everyone.”