2011-12-09 Day 29 Friday
New Zealand Day 7: Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove
Nice to have our “locals” guiding us on this one. We forced ourselves to get up earlier than normal and were at the beach 3 hours before low tide. I had already swung by “Tides” and gotten coffees for the addicts, so everyone was ready for the long haul.
Kim guided us to with 20 feet of THE spot, then we walked in small circles, in the waves, wriggling our feet down into the sand. The novices kept saying “This might be warmer here”, but Shay was the one who found the real spot. Everyone else came over to feel it, and then went “Oww!” as the scalding water bubbled up in other spots, around the real source. The water was still about 6″ deep at this spot, and with the waves, there was no way to start work on our hot tub for some time. We did stick a spade in the sand and plan though.
Of course, we started construction way to soon, and spent most of our time replacing sand barriers that had been washed away by rogue waves. But, an hour later, we had the first completed hot tub, and the best one. The key was to be able to adjust how much hot water flowed into the tub. Too much was the problem for almost everyone below us. In fact, most of the pits eagerly constructed below us started out by enclosing the source, and then struggling to route the water somewhere else! 
We lay about in our tub and gloated. We had a hot side, and a cooler one. Could have been deeper, but our sand walls kept eroding back into our tub, making this a futile goal.
After a few hour, and a few quick body surfing runs (in an area with a fierce drowning reputation), we passed our hot tub onto some other late comers and went for lunch at the nearby cafe. Excellent, and fancy and with an espresso coffee selection.
Next destination was Cathedral Cove, only a 10 minute drive away. We elected to take the longer walk in (about an hour each way) to make it more of an event. The hike was well worth it, an up and down wander through lush vegetation, interspersed with view of various bays and cliffs.
Dropped down into Cathedral Cove and everyone ran off exploring. Mushroom rock, little cave, big tunnel through to next cove, sand, waves, swimming, body surfing and a large stingray. Karin had also chosen this site for her Xmas photo, dragging out the props she had carried half way around the world, just for this day.
Back to Whitianga for dinner and BANG. Karin and Sandy did a barbie with satay chicken skewers, potatoes and asparagus.
