Day #4 - New Zealand Travel Adventure (Exploring Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach 10/19/15)

Today was Earline's 60th birthday and we planned to celebrate it by driving to the east side of the Coromandel Peninsula to see Cathedral Cove and the interesting Hot Water Beach.

Incidentally, The Coromandel Peninsula is named after HMS Coromandel that stopped there to cut Kauri trees to use in replacing spars. The town of Coromandel is also the place where gold was first discovered in New Zealand and this produced a boom economy in that particular area.

We started off in what we thought was the correct direction but it turned out to be an error and we had to back track 20 kilometers. Earline got the GPS to connect and set it for Whitianga, a place on the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula where you can take a sight-seeing boat ride to see the Cathedral Cove and other areas of the beautiful coastline.

The GPS took us by the shortest route..."alternate" Route 25( Route 309) that is alternate for a reason. Mostly unpaved and therefore untraveled, you prayed you would not meet another vehicle coming around one of the multitude of sharp, narrow bends. However, we did see interesting sights that included wild pigs, a waterfall and a preserved Kauri tree forest that we did not have time to visit. Earline was screaming that the pigs were "coming for her" and quickly rolled up the window.

Wild Pigs on Coromandel Peninsula

Once we got to Whitianga, I made arrangements with Ken, the tour boat owner to take us on tour at 1:30 pm even though we were the only two people taking the tour. He gave us a great tour and he is to be recommended very highly in my opinion. The cost for the tour is $85 NZD per person but it is well worth it. You could drive to the Cathedral Cove but it would take you nearly two hours to do a round trip to the beach and that would be all you would see. 

Cathedral Cove

Ken showed us many interesting sights, explained the geology of the area, showed us the multitude of fish in the marine preserve and took us inside the third largest ocean cave in the southern hemisphere.

Sea Cave

Lee & Earline in 3rd largest sea cave of the southern hemisphere

Following the boat tour, we drove south to Hot Water Beach that is situated above a geothermal vent that bubbles very hot water through the beach on the sand. People bring shovels and dig a pit to sit in and if done properly, the pit water mixes with cooler seawater and with the hit geothermal water to produce a pleasant hot tub experience. It is a fun thing to do but it can only be done over a time span of two hours before to two hours after the low tide. Thus, you must consult a tide table and bring a digging spade with you. If you didn't bring a shovel, generally someone will lend you one or better yet, you can hop in someone else's pit as they are leaving.

There are two parking areas that will get you to the Hot Water Beach from Hot Water Beach Road. The first area is free parking but if you follow Hot Water Beach Road to the end, you must pay for parking.

Hot Water Beach Parking  The first parking lot you come to is the free lot. If you want to get slightly closer, you have to pay. The walk from the free lot to the geothermal vent is about 300 yards along the beach.

Hot Water Beach at Low Tide

Earline at Hot Water Beach

You bring your shovel with you and try to dig a pit that allows some cooler seawater in to balance the heat from a vent. The hot water from the vent is around 140 degrees and is not tolerable.

When you are finished bathing in your hot water, you can change in a bathroom in the parking lot. Unfortunately, there is no place to wash off the sand so you need to put that into your plans. :(

We then drove back to our lodging in Coromandel and stopped for dinner at the Pepper Tree Restaurant in Coromandel Town. The food was excellent. I had scallops and Earline had fried oysters. Both were excellent. I had never experienced scallops with the roe attached, but they were very tender and had no fishy taste. The chef told me that that is the proper way to serve scallops because if the roe is not attached, you might be eating Skate, a fish made to look like a more expensive scallops by using a punch. In the USA we generally don't ever get the coral (roe) part of the scallop because it deteriorates too fast and doesn't lend itself to shipping. When you get fresh scallops with the coral (roe) attached, they are wonderful!

Fresh Scallops in Coromandel, NZ

Oyster Tempura in Coromandel, NZ

Following dinner, we returned to Indigo Bush for an early bedtime. Life does not get better than this to celebrate Earline's 60th birthday!