On Thursday morning, we got up and headed for the Coromandel Peninsula, where we
hoped to get to the "Hot Water Beach" around low tide. It was about a six hour drive.
back down through Auckland and then east to the Pacific Ocean. When staying at the hostels,
we always brought food for breakfast as they have wonderful kitchens where you meet
new people from all over the world. "Yoko", our Japanese friend from the day before,
was also staying at our hostel. She told us that she wanted to thank us for lunch the
day before, so she gave Reg a back and shoulder massage.
The "Heated Beach" is a small section of beach that has thermal activity under it.
It was a beautiful drive to get there with many dramatic changes in topography.
When we got to the beach, the tide was well on it's way back in and many people
heading back in.
At low tide, people rent shovels at one of the beach shops and head
out to a section of beach that is about 50 meters wide. They dig holes that
fill up with hot water, and then they soak in the hole.
If you to long on the thermal section of the beach, the high tide can
trap you there.
Here is a hole that someone else had dug earlier in the day.
The tides had already started in and were mixing with the hot water that
was in the hole. So it was only warm!
The "Hot Water Beach" was beautiful with many surfers enjoying the high waves.
After a nice visit to the beach, we headed home to Rotorua, about a 3 hour drive.
It was a great trip to the northern part of the north island.
That sounds cool!
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