Hot Water Beach - February 2009

A family wedding called us home to NZ so we boarded an Air NZ 747 and settled in for a 25-hour journey via Hong Kong. With the help of a pill we got some sleep and arrived in Auckland feeling remarkably good. After a family meal we set off for Hot Water Beach on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsular where we had rented a holiday cottage for the week.

Hot Water Beach is possibly unique in the world as geothermally heated water bubbles up through the sand

and is accessible for two hours either side of low-tide. During that period a small army of tourists gather with their spades to scoop out pools in the sand and create their own geothermally heated spa pools.

As the water seeping up through the sand is 64º C the best technique is to dig in such a way as to allow a mixture of hot and cold water into your pool and, as there are only 2 locations on the beach where the hot water surfaces, the demand for such prime spots is high and the early-birds have first pick.

It is fun to watch the unwary walking barefoot along the beach suddenly break into a hopping quick-step as they, inadvertently, find the location of the springs. It is a wonderful gathering of people from around the globe and as one of the tourists we shared our pool with observed, "Everybody here is smiling."


Nearby is Cathedral Cove, brought to the big-screen in the Chronicles of Narina:Prince Caspian as the place where the children first re-enter Narnia. The shoreline here forms one edge of NZ's first marine reserve and the water is crystal clear. We made two visits to the Cove which is only accessible on foot (30 min walk from the car park) or by sea.

All too soon a week of perfect NZ summer beach weather was over and it was back to Auckland to get the last minute wedding preparations done. On the way we made a brief stop to look at the Square Kauri. Possibly 1200 years old, it is the 15th largest Kauri tree on the Coromandel Peninsular and, although very close to the road, was spared by the loggers in a "gentleman's agreement" because of the unusual square shape of the trunk.

And then, with the wedding over, it was back on the plane for 24 hours via Los Angeles to London, and winter. In contrast to the complete lack of jet-lag effects on the outbound trip, we felt pretty ragged after the return journey.