We arrived at Hot Water Beach around 7 and were pretty spent. So after a quick dinner of grilled cheese, these guys played for a couple of hours (there’s a jumping pillow here) while Harry and I hung out and played the ukulele. We spent the next day at Hot Water Beach, a short walk from the campsite. We played in the waves, built castles then headed back for lunch and some schooling We returned back to beach for digging in late afternoon at low tide when the digging is good for hot water baths. Natural hot springs percolate up from the volcanic fissures underneath the beach and with a little excavating we reached hot water. It’s pretty hilarious to see a million tourists digging in the sand and sitting in these hot tubs. We did some more boogie boarding before dinner – Tacos! Everybody loves tacos.
We spent the morning doing our cleanup routine. I also squeezed in some pillow jumping with Luke and Paula. On to the next destination!
Hahei is a great little spot. Fantastic beach, cool town. We hopped on a Zodiac and took a ride around Mercury Bay. It was a gorgeous morning and smooth seas. We checked out Cathedral Cove and Champagne Rock. On the outside of the barrier rocks it’s nothing but the Pacific Ocean so swells can get to 8-10 m high. Hundreds of thousands of years of those ocean waves hitting the rocks have made awesome caves. We drove through the holes in rocks, went into caves, and fed the red snapper & blue maomao. It was spectacular. The rocks are covered in NZ Christmas trees, Pohutukawa, that bloom red flowers in December. They need saltwater and have strong roots so love it on rocks and coasts.
After our ride we chilled at the beach; the water was magnificent – totally turquoise with nothing but smooth sand and topped off the morning with lunch at the pour house and our daily ice cream.
You need to post pohutukawa photos. They are kind of my obsession. I love them.
Btw, we obsessively check the blog for new posts. It makes us all happy when there are new ones waiting for us!