Day 135 Whitianga, New Zealand

Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach

Simon and Me

Simon and Me

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Though the rain was still coming down it had eased off by the time we decided to go out.
We drove over to Hahei first and had a 15 minute walk down to Cathedral Cove which is famous for its giant limestone arch and was well worth taking a look at.
After this was a short drive to Hot Water Beach where thermal waters brew just below the sand in front of some rocks. All you have to do is wait 2 hours either side of low tide and then start digging a hole where you then sit it in and relax in the hot thermal water. Well it sounds fairly easy but with the weather being as bad as it was it turned into a serious onslaught to try and dig a hole before the sea kept on crashing in and freezing everyone to death. Eventually after persuading a few people to join us we planned on making a barrier of sand around the hole we had dug to stop the cold sea water from entering the whole we had dug. By this time we had a crowd of people around us of which most preferred to stand and watch as we dug like crazy in the rain. Even though most people doubted whether we could do it we did in the end succeed in digging the hole and barricading the sea. Typically then everyone who seemed to be standing around watching then wanted to join us in our own little natural pool.
The funny thing was the area of sand in front of the barricade we had made was absolutely boiling hot when the tide went out and all these people were jumping about like lunatics wondering why it was so hot, didn’t they actually realize this place was called Hot Water Beach.
Some 60 minutes later it was then starting to get very cold so with a few thank you’s from people for digging the hole for them we headed back to the car, and not bothering to dry off to much we just sat on our towels and had the heaters on full blast all the way back.