A short drive this morning took us around Mercury Bay to Hahei, a small but legendary Kiwi beach town, which according to the guide books is heaving in the summer…but deadly quiet in the Winter.
We parked up in the car park just north of town and started on the track, which gave amazing views along the Coromandel coast.
Our first stop on route to Cathedral Cove was the very rocky Gemstone Bay, a favourite with snorkelers, as it was the perfect place to see big snapper, crayfish and stingrays. Unfortunately for us the weather was still unsettled and the sea a bit rough, so no snorkelling. Next stop was Stingray Bay, a beautiful secluded bay, with some amazing honeycombed cliffs (pictured below).
We climbed down a couple of hundred steps to reach our destination, Cathedral Cove, a stunning white sandy beach with the gigantic limestone arch.
Perched precariously on top of this cliff were ‘NZ Christmas trees’, and unsurprisingly due to rock fall risk (and tree fall risk) the cove was closed to the public.
We opted instead to enjoy the rest of the beaches beauties, its stunning natural rock formations…which Ben literally got stuck into!
And the stunning natural waterfall shower.
We even discovered the best public toilets of our trip with regards to a perfect view whilst doing ‘your business’…they were on the second floor, with a window looking out onto the beach! Sadly the picture doesn’t quite do it justice.
As we climbed the stairs back to the van we felt like we had discovered a truly picturesque spot!
Next stop on our tour was Hot Water Beach…we hired a spade from the local cafe and prepared ourselves to dig our own spa!
So, let us welcome you all to one of NZ’s most popular and fascinating natural wonders! For 2 hours either side of low tide you can access an area of sand in front of a rocky outcrop, where you can dig your own spa pool as water from hot springs seeps up through the sand. For a more technical explanation of this natural phenomenon see below!
We began digging, and soon enough once the pool was forming the heat was tremendous. We had to have breaks from our personal home made spa pool as the heat was so intense!
As we sat with the 30 or so other ‘diggers’ it was quite relaxing, even when a wave came in from the ocean and cooled the pool down.
Once we had thoroughly baked our skin we jumped out and changed clothes back at the van.
Next we drove the short distance to the Whitianga Rock Scenic Reserve, climbing the track up to the Ngato Hei Pa site, where we got amazing views across the bay to Whitianga town.
Last stop on the tour was Shakespeare Point, a cliff formed by volcanic ash, and also, as we found out the main Tsunami evacuation route! The views from the top were stunning, not hard to see why Captain Cook chose this part of the coast to come ashore in 1769.
As the afternoon had passed us by we headed back to the Harbourside Holiday Park for our second and last night in Whitianga.
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