Alyssa’s Mini-Kiwi Trek

DAY ONE: Coromandel, Hahei, and Hot Water Beach

Day one introduced a bit of dejavu, as we had been at Hahei Beach last week for the Cathedral Cove Kayak. This beach is so clean and pure and empty, so revisiting it was quite a pleasure.

Spend the day basking in the sun and writing messages in the sand. I will post pictures of that later as my camera cable is buried deep within my pack and would be impossible to find at the moment. (CHECK BACK TO THIS ENTRY FOR EDITS AND PHOTOS)

Later that night we went to hot water beach, but this time I was there before sunset so it wasn’t as cold and I didn’t hesitate jumping in. For two hours either side of low tide, you can dig in the sand for hot spring water and make your own spa pool. Hot Water Beach has two fissures issuing water as hot as 64ºC (147ºF) at a rate as high as 15 litres/minute. This water contains large amounts of salt (NOT salt water), calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluorine, bromine and silica. Although I usually dislike being warm, lately I’ve felt that water can’t get hot enough. I’m struck by the initial heat when entering a hot pool but soon after I want it to be hotter and hotter. I have no way to explain this phenomenon.


Some fellow travelers in the hot pools:




A really cool bird called an Oyster Catcher (I don't know its realy name):




We had a nice barbeque followed by much-needed sleep at a backpackers on the beach.