COROMANDEL PENINSULA

Last week, Liam and I, made a small weekend trip down to the Coromandel Peninsula. Friday night we spent in Whangamata, at my friend Jenna's bach, aka a holiday home (for my non-kiwi friends out there). The next day we were off to up to Hahei. I was hoping to either go to Cathedral Cove or Hot Water Beach but the drizzly, dreary day didn't inspire us. We decided to leave it for the next day and hope the weather was better. We at least managed to capture a few photographs of the misty looking Hahei beach. 

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The next day we were lucky with the weather and managed to visit Hot Water Beach, and Cathedral Cove, before driving back to Auckland. I'm sure many of you who go on holiday to the Coromandel every year, or at least used to, will know of Hot Water Beach and I think I even went once as a child. It is a great experience and it's free. Though you are limited to about 2 hours of spa relaxation with the changing tides, and will have to fight the crowds in summer for a spot. Despite it being the middle of winter when we went, a lot of people weren't too put off the idea of heading to the beach for a swim. The water is as the name suggests: hot. This is due to thermal activity underneath the sand which is exposed only during low tide. As we dug, hot water emerged from the sand. Apparently it can get as hot as 63 degrees Celsius, but with the tide still slowly making it's way out, we got plenty of cold water crashing in, creating the perfect temperature. Cathedral Cove is another popular spot along the peninsula, where we took so many photos I decided to create a separate blog post for it here.

Hot Water Beach

 Hahei

 Whangamata