Waking up to another blue skied morning, we gathered our stuff together to head out on an exploration day. Armed with our shovel and towels (both provided by the motel, the towels so we didn´t get our own messed up) headed northwards along the coast towards Hot Water Beach where you can dig a hole in the sand to access the natural hot water which is beneath.

The coastal drive was again breathtaking, with a winding road taking us up and over forest covered hillsides. On arriving at the beach, we were pleased to see that it wasn´t too crowded as Paul from the motel had told us that it could get quite busy at times. This event only occurs two hours either side of low tide. So, we ambled across the sand to where numerous people had already started to congregate and who were already shoveling away like possessed gold diggers. As the holes were being dug so close to the slowly retreating shoreline it seemed that every hole was soon being filled up with water with each ebb of the returning tide. Dani held fast to his preferred spot, and waited for the tide to go down further. During this time, the possessed gold diggers kept on with their shoveling, slowly but surely starting to produce their holes, waiting to see if they could feel the hot water rising from beneath. It was hard work for all of those digging as any progress made depth wise, was soon filled in with the retreating ocean. Strategies were put into place with sand ´walls´being built around the slowly appearing holes, to stop this from happening. Eventually, the early arriving gold diggers hit jackpot with water appearing into their small craters from below, hot enough to burn the bottoms eager to be submerged into them….so it was a case of knocking down some of the sand wall to let in some cold ocean water

It was amusing to watch as each couple or group of friends who arrived at the start of this digging frenzy managed to repeat the same actions as those before. Standing still in the sand and doing ´the twist´to slowly submerge their feet into it to see if they could feel any difference in the temperature a few centimeters below. Women tended to start this first, but once their partners or friends saw the method in the madness, they were soon all participating in ´the twist´. I am not sure if anyone else noticed but it made me smile as everyone seemed to do it! The second thing new arrivals were tending to do was to notice holes that had been dug and left abandoned with an ankle deep amount of water at the bottom. Toes were gingerly stuck into the water just to see how hot the water was, only to realize that these abandoned holes had been left due to the fact that there was no hot water running underneath in that spot….several mutterings of ´can you feel anything?´took place before they moved off.

Groups guarded their dug holes like proud birds in their nests whilst others (the vultures) hung around on the sidelines waiting for them to leave so that they could pinch the pre-dug hole So comical to watch…. Dani too dug like a man possessed for almost an hour, an ongoing battle with the tide seeming to hinder any real progress made, even my attempt at taking over for a while produced no hot water in our hole either Mind you, eventually, there must have been about four large ones dug, housing a multitude of different ages and nationalities all keen to burn their bottoms just to say that they had done it

From here, we carried on up the coast to Cathedral Cove, which had been described in our guide book as ´the real jewel in the regions crown, indeed perhaps for the whole peninsular´ so we felt it was a must see sight. The view from the carpark was extremely impressive with sweeping views across the Bay of Plenty, with a coastline meandering off into the distance, topped with trees and native bush, fronted by white sand coloured cliff faces and turquoise ocean bays. We began the 45 minute coastal walk slowly walking up and over the gentle hillsides. We made a stop en-route at Stingray Bay, a small sheltered cove, before continuing onwards to Cathedral Cove. Wooden steps took us down to the beach below, where only a few people sat on the sand or wandered around taking photos. The view was absolutely out of this world. Having never been to Thailand or Bali, the scene could only be described as what I imagine these places to look like. Crystal clear water, pale white sand, pine forest covered hillsides behind you, individual islands scattered throughout the ocean ahead of you and a natural rock arch connecting the two small beaches here, both of which contain natural sandstone pinnacles……breathtaking.

After spending a little time here, we headed back up the steps and along the winding track back, this time stopping at a third bay, about 5 minutes from the car park, Gemstone Bay. This one has no beach, and the cove is made up of smooth stones. Famed for its snorkeling, Dani pottered off to have a look. Visibility was bad in places, but further out to sea, larger fish and crayfish could be seen. After having our picnic under a tree on the grass covered hilltop on the way back, we headed back towards Tairua to drive up Mount Paku, which offers some of the best views on the Coromandel Peninsular.

From it summit, we had striking views across the Bay of Plenty with its islands, across to the suburb of Pauanui as well as back to Tairua itself. Only the photos will do this view justice.

All in all, a wonderful, sunshine filled day, with amazing views and mid 20 degree C temperatures This country just keeps pulling out surprise after surprise….