On the way to our next destination, the Coromandel we stopped at a place called Whakatane to see a statue which has featured in many postcards around NZ. I forget what its called but it was worth the detour as it was gorgeous. Headed from there up to the Coromandel Peninsula on a rather long and hair raising road, had to concentrate as it was so so windy! Got to Hahei where we had decided to stay due to its proximity to the vital attractions of this area, Hot water Beach and Cathedral Cove. most tours stay in nearby Whitianga but its 30min drive and seeing as we had the car it was far cheaper. Stayed at this tiny backpackers called Fernbird where an older couple just rent out 2 rooms in their house and you used their house facilities. They were really sweet and felt really at home there.
We planned to hit Hot Water Beach at the evening low tide as it would be quieter but alas we fell asleep and missed it. This beach is one of the most dangerous in NZ due to bad rips and the hot springs can only be accessed at low tide and 2hrs either side. We headed down spade in hand to dig our own little pool to lie in. There was already a crowd down there and we joined an old British couple in making a large pool as they had hit the spring!! The water is 64degrees so blooming hurts if you stand in the wrong bit!! I kept seeing people running off to put their feet in the sea to cool down! Incredible phenomena and still free which was even better. Dain took charge of the spade and was digging for a good 2 hours, the tide kept coming in and washing away our walls!! finally he managed to have a well earned relax in the pool.
After that excitement we went over to Cathedral Cove, walking past Stingray Bay and Gemstone Bay, pretty little coastal scenery overlooking the expanse of little islands making up the marine reserve in the area...it was a $2500 fine if you were caught removing anything from the beaches or leaving rubbish etc. Serious stuff! Cathedral Cove was lovely, on a hot day i bet its beautiful but it was overcast which made the sea quite dull and uninviting. We walked back through ancient P.....(cant remember name of tree) groves which were interesting looknig trees. God im getting obsessed with trees being over here, HAHA.
Had to get the car back to Auckland on the 7th so we hopped in and drove back up country. Got into Auckland ok until we had to find the rental place....few times round the one way system and we got there! We were catchin a bus out to Paihia at 1pm so quick changeover in Auckland as Dain had some stuff to get out of storage and I managed to see Matt, the guy i met in Singapore who is now working at the SkyTower jumping off it for a living! So all good, off back to Paihia, yaaaay!
