Our first afternoon here, we walked down the beach and hiked up the bluffs to a really cool blowhole, walking along the edge of salmon coloured cliffs and looking down at the surf crashing far below.
We explored the Karangahake Gorge which included an incredible hike through old gold mining tunnels, lots of swing bridges and the funnest swimming hole yet! Then we spent a day with my friends Penni and Steve, (who haven't changed a bit in 20 years!) at Waihi Beach and hiked a stream-criss-crossing trail to a funky waterfall. Fortunately for us the weather has been gorgeous but since it has been very dry, some waterfalls have been quite sparse, including that last one.
Yesterday we hit two great spots in one day: Hot water beach and Cathedral Cove! I think it ranks as one of our best days so far!
At hot water beach we arrived just right - within an hour or two of low tide, and parked in a fairly empty car park. Because of this, I thought there was going to be hardly anyone there especially since school break is over.... But once on the beach you could see the crowd from a distance! Probably mostly tourists like ourselves, about 100 or so people with shovels and buckets all digging holes on one particular stretch of beach. We looked around for a good spot and Nigel started digging- he was the only one of us who could since he had shoes on. The water from a spring 100's of feet below the sand seeps up at 64 degrees Celsius - about 150 Fahrenheit! It literally burns your feet when you step in it. Rory stood in our bucket filled with sea water and Liam and I stood out of the way of steaming water or in the ocean! Eventually we had a little hollow with walls to sit in and the boys jumped in, adding buckets of cold water from the sea to get it just right. It was kind of like an instant hot tub, and Nigel and I gave it a try too, before playing in the waves and cooling off. The boys built their own pools a little ways down the beach and were having a great time until the tide started coming in and washing away their pools! It was time for Cathedral Cove.
Just up the coast from there, near a little town called Hahei (that had the biggest ice creams ever!) was the start of the 30 minute hike to Cathedral Cove. This is a cove with sand sculpted cliffs, sea caves and islands to jump off, swim in and explore! It's also incredibly beautiful with it's white sand, turquoise water and white cliffs! We swam to the islands, jumped off, swam into the sea caves, played in the waves, picnicked on the beach, and rinsed off under a fresh water waterfall before hiking back at the end of the day.
Liam and Rory agreed, it was definitely one of their favorite days!
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