Sea, sand, surf and s--!

Another lovely start to the day, and it only got down to freezing point overnight, so warming up a bit!

The Top-10 site at Papamoa Beach was good, and our site had a great view of the Pacific as well as being close to all the amenities:

Sea, sand, surf and s--!

That's sun by the way, lots of it today.

We set off after breakfast to follow the Pacific Coast Highway to the Coromandel Penisula. A stop at Katikati for coffee, then on through Bethlehem to Hahei and the 'Hot Water Beach' where you're supposed to be able to dig a hole in the sand at low tide, and it should fill up with hot water, in which you can then have a pleasant soak.

Unsurprisingly, it was a popular beach and lots of people were digging holes, but we weren't aware of anyone finding a seriously hot bit. But it was a nice beach in its own right, with surfers doing their thing:

And occasionally wiping out:

It was interesting watching them getting out through the big waves; quite a challenge. One young surfer in particular seemed like a good subject to follow:

The fact that this surfer was young, blond and wearing a bikini, was of course, irrelevant ....

As she swam out, the waves got increasingly daunting:

A brave young lady! When I'd been swimming in waves very, very much smaller than this the previous day, they had seemed daunting enough. Waves this size must look horrendous when they tower over you:

Moving on, a short drive took us up to the parking area for the Cathedral Cove. A moderate walk with significant ups and downs took us along some lovely coastline:

And the usual array of different flora and fauna:

Cathedral Cove was very nice. At the highest tides it would have been cut off from the more southerly beach the footpath leads down into. A sizeable arch allows passage through a headland to the cove:

At the state of tide when we got there, it only involved a paddle to go through to the cove:

but well worthwhile, many lovely views:

Including this one before we set off back:

A last view of the island strewn coast before finding our campsite for the night:

written by  Saros on May 23, 2009 from Hot Water Beach, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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