SUNDAY, 8 MAY 2011 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! LOTS OF SUNSHINE AND A HOT WATER BEACH

The goal today was to reach Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. There are several deep fissures where hot water rises to the surface through the sand on the beach. During low tide one can dig a hole and sit in a do-it-yourself spa. The drive took us through more beautiful land.

The GPS took us off the beaten track and we came upon this waterfall.

The wild grasses grow everywhere and are 10-12 feet tall.

There are some beautiful beaches on the east coast of the peninsula.

My travel book says Cathedral Cove has the most beautiful beach in New Zealand. It was a 30 minute walk, half of it uphill, then down some deep steps to get to the beach, but the book was right-it is beautiful. There is a deep arch, but it has been roped off so we couldn’t walk through it.

When we got to Hot Water Beach we found out that the low tide today wasn’t so low, meaning we wouldn’t be able to dig any deep holes. It was a little tricky walking out to it-we had to walk around some rocks and had to time it so the waves didn’t get us. It was easy to find the right spot because there were about 20 people standing in the area. Several of them had shovels, but the waves would come in and fill up their holes.

All we had to do was find a spot and dig our foot down into it and you could feel the warmth...dig deep enough and it would burn our toes and we would pull them out of the sand rapidly.

While we were standing there warming our toes a big wave rolled in-Linda had her back to it and it knocked her down. The rest of us got our pants soaked. It was a unique and fun experience.





After walking back to the car, we all changed our pants before heading to Thames to spend the night.