DAY 60: Coromandel Weekend- Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove

That morning started early with a knock on the door at 3 am. It was Lizzy, and the five of us rolled out of bed to make a late night trip to the beach.

One of the main hot spots (pun intended) of the Coromandel is Hot Water Beach. Under the sand lies geo-thermal activity. During low tide, people dig holes in the sand to make small hot tubs. We had heard that the beach is insanely crowded during the day, so we decided to be sneaky and check it out during night time low tide.

So we dragged ourselves to the car and followed the signs to the beach. As expected, we were the only ones there. But what we had not anticipated was that we wouldn't be able to find the hot spot! With no massive crowds to follow, we walked across the beach in our pajama's with headlamps on and mini shovels slung over our shoulders. We must have looked straight out of Desperate Housewives as we searched for the steaming sand.

We finally found it and began our dig. As wet sand normally does, it constantly caved in on itself and made our pool only about 6 inches deep. But that 6 inches of ocean water was actually boiling. BOILING! It was so hot, we couldn't put our feet in. We dug another hole, further away from the hottest spot and stood for a few minutes. Our hair still wet from showering, we chose not to lie down in it and went back to the hostel for a few more hours of sleep.

When we woke up around 10 am, munched on some breakfast and drove to the snorkel place. We each rented some gear and set off for Cathedral Cove.

FUN FACT #27: Cathedral Cove is best known for its appearance in Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Having read the books as a kid, I of course watched the movies and was pretty pumped to go there. I know, I'm a nerd. Sue me. Cathedral Cove is also the location of Macklemore's recent music video, "Can't Hold Us" (start at 3:30 for cove scenes)

We left the car in the car park and took the 30 minute hike to Cathedral Cove. It was amazing! Supposedly, it receives over 1,000 visitors daily, and I don't think today was an exception. There were lots of people there. But we had fun running around the cave and playing in the water. That is, until I saw a sting ray and decided I was not ready to go like Steve and got the hell out of the wat

When we finished with Cathedral Cove, we headed for Gemstone Bay to make use of our snorkel gear! (The alternative was Stingray Bay, and I wasn't too keen on that idea...) We saw some really cool fish as we splashed around in the water. I've never snorkeled before (other than in my pool with my brother when I was 10) so this was pretty cool to me! It sort of freaked me out how close the fish got, and swimming over sea weed was terrifying, but we had a great time. 

After snorkeling, we all packed into the car and headed back to Auckland. Time for the real world for one more week, then MID SEMESTER BREAK!