L0p3z and Neno's Upside-Down Adventure: Coromandel Part 2

A few days of driving around had taken its toll so we opted for a full on beach day. The first stop was Hot Water Beach. There is no other beach like this in the world, hot springs run just below the surface of the sand in a small patch of this giant beach. The result is that you can dig a hole for yourself and sit in a DIY hot tub. We armed ourselves with a hired spade and a cut up milk bottle and joined the race to dig the best pool. After a couple of false starts we found a hot(ish) spring but the tide was going out so slowly that the waves would still come in and cool everything down and destroy our newly constructed wall. It was tiring battling the sand and the sea, but great fun. In the end our spring just wasn't that hot but a couple of pools away had a very hot spring, we teamed up and joined the pools so that everyone had a comfortable pool.

Turns out this pool isn't hot - a false start

This was the hottest pool

Shattered after all the digging

Not content with one beach in the day we made our way to Cathedral Cove. This is a natural stone arch leading to another beach. The walk down takes about 40 minutes and provides some amazing views of the peninsula. We explored the cove and relaxed on the beach in the sun. The waves were giant, perfect for some body surfing!

Cathedral Cove

Admiring the view - Cathedral Cove

Strong woman

Cathedral Cove even has a mini waterfall to shower in

Having a rest on the walk up to the car

Sausage Sizzle after the beach

You can never have too much beach when its sunny so we headed to two more the next day. The first was Cooks beach, named after Captain Cook who spent 12 days anchored there on his first voyage to the southern hemisphere. There was nobody else there except the fisherman stuck in the shallows way out in the river mouth. Carol and Janine spent ages shell collecting and managed to fill a whole bag. The weather clouded over so after lunch (we remembered it this time) we popped into a vineyard. We were lucky the guy running the (free) tasting was a local guru, full of information thrown at you at a million miles an hour. It was hard to keep up especially when he was also very generous with the tastings. This diversion seemed to improve the weather and we headed back to check out Tairua beach for a couple of hours. We loved our stay in Tairua it was a nice little town. Here are some more pictures taken during the stay.