This morning we headed out to explore the attractions around Whitianga.
Our first stop was Hot Water Beach (the Kiwi’s are sometimes so inventive with their place names). Yes as the more astute of you may have guessed, the main attraction was warm to hot water seeping up through the beach sands. The actual area of the hot water was about 200m down the beach from the car park and is best accessed in the time 2 hours before and after low tide. You dig a hole in the sand and most people sit in the warm water. We got to the area and found over 100 people crammed into an area about 20m long x 5m wide. There were people of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities enjoying the warm water and lack of personal space.
Hot Water Beach
Deb and I had decided we would test the waters with our feet rather than dive in. It was fun to go and have a look and feel the warmth of the water, but it is definitely a “Tourist thing”.
After we got back to the car park we walked over the road and had a look through an art shop, many interesting pieces on display but nothing that grabbed us and said, take me home.
We then drove to the small coastal village of Hahei, the access point for Cathedral Cove. Located in a National Park, Cathedral Cove is an area with a large stone arch that has been carved out by the ocean and waves. At low tide you can walk through the arch to the beach on the other side. The closest carpark was closed and with no on street parking anywhere near the entrance to the NP we parked in the village and walked. Have we mentioned how hilly and steep NZ can be? It took around 50mins to walk to the Cathedral Cove, including a short steep decent to have a look at one of the smaller coves along the way. The scenery was just so beautiful, if it wasn’t so great all the time, the amazing scenery in NZ would start to get normal.
Coastal view over Hahei
We spent around an hour at the Cove, the tide was out so we got to walk through the arch
Cathedral Cove Arch.
and we spent time relaxing in the shade sitting on a comfortable tree branch.
Cathedral Cove
The propects of doing the walk in reverse to get back out wasn’t endearing itself to us so we decided on a five minute water taxi ride back to Hahei.
It was a 5min walk along the flat ground to our car. Deb consulted Trip Advisor for somewhere for lunch, it looked fairly close, so we got the gps directions up on Deb’s phone, hopped in the car and drove the whole 100m to the cafe! Have you ever noticed how the distances can be very deceptive on those apps. Lunch was delicous.
We then drove around the coast to Cooks Beach. Apparently Capt Cook had landed here during his voyage of discovery. It was a holiday village with a mix of very average to very nice homes many with views over either the ocean or river.
We followed the road around to the end, the point where you can get a passenger ferry across around 150m of water to Whitianga. It’s a 45 min drive to get to Whitianga from there. It was good to get a different view of the town.
We then drove back to Woodyhanger Lodge to rest up a bit before dinner.
As we drove back to town for dinner we had decided to have Thai tonight and go to a fancier restaurant tomorrow night. We parked and walked to the restaurant, went it, sat down, looked at the menu and both of us were a bit perplexed, the menu wasn’t very Thai! Oooops, we had gone in one door too soon and found ourselves in an Indian Restaurant. I think we must be a bit too relaxed, not that that’s a bad thing. We decided to stay and had a delicous meal. Over dinner we managed to map out a rough plan for an extended holiday next year. It’s what we do, plan another holiday while we are on one, only this time it didn’t involve a bottle of red wine, Deb’s usual tactic in holiday planning.
Was another great day.
Number of Views :1168
Feeling relaxed, Just one glass, that’s all it took ??