Hidden bays and hot water beaches
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2005
1
28
29
Trip End
Ongoing
Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand
Friday, April 7, 2006
The next day I set out early (well, early for me is around 8am) and over to hot water beach. A bit of a delay as some cows were being herded across the road. I've run into this problem with animals blocking the road and being moved to the next place many times already. Hot water beach is a cool place because there's thermal activity under the sand, so when you dig just a shallow hole in the sand, it's like a hot tub. There were lots of people there, so I just jumped in one of the already made pools (I really didn't want to have to build my own) and sat in the shallow, warm water. In some places, the water was so hot it was burning my feet! It was a constant effort (usually on the boys part, or the young kids who wanted to help) to keep the walls of the sand pool up as the waves from the ocean would knock them down and bring in cold water. In the pools, I met 2 nice American girls who were volunteering in NZ, and I joined them for the rest of the day. We went on a walk that had stunning views and peaked into different bays with crystal clear turquoise water. Finally, we arrived at Cathedral Cove, which had big white sand beaches and towering limestone cliffs and archways. Although it had been raining when we were at hot water beach, it had cleared up into a beautiful day. So we took advantage of the sun that we were given, and laid on the beach for awhile before it was time to start heading back. Once we got back to our cars, we both had to take off, as we had a few hours drive ahead of us. At least I get almost a full day's of activities in before the drive, whereas in Australia, it was driving for a few days just for a few things, and then back in the car again. And, sorry Australia, but this scenery is a bit more exciting that the bare landscape of the outback.
