Part 5...Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach is a unique place. It isn't as impressive visually as Cathedral Cove or Mare's Leg Beaches are, but it has one thing neither of them has. It has Hot Water! 

There are places on the beach where you can dig down through the sand and hit geothermally heated water, bubbling up from below. You can bring your own shovel or rent one at the beach and excavate your very own sandy hottub.  Of course, you'll have plenty of neighbors. And we noticed that the waves have a way of filling the hottubs in, but that didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the diggers we saw. 

 There is a little stream to cross to get to the beach

 Hmmm, where's the hot water do you suppose?

 Maybe going where that group of people is might be a good idea.

 Yup, we found it. There aren't too many people here right now, but those who are are actively digging. The geothermal springs are in line with those off-shore rocks. Convenient...

We're kind of tired. We've been in the waves and sand for several hours already, so here, we're just on-lookers. 

I'm going to do a quick exploration and take some pictures. 

The first thing I notice is that the rocks here are very sharp. Amiri appears to be sitting on one but I wouldn't advise rubbing bare skin across any of these surfaces. 

 Look at the little cave I found. 

 It appears to have been formed by a number of large pieces of cliff breaking off and falling against one another. I didn't invite the boys into this one. I was pretty sure it wouldn't collapse on me, but why take chances?

 It has a little hole in the 'roof.' I'm looking straight up here.

  The opening is a fairly snug fit for a man like me of 'mature' dimensions. 

Look at those colors in the rocks. 

 I found a few limpets hanging around on these rocks, waiting for the tide to return, but I couldn't persuade any of them to let loose and come home with me.  

We had had a very full day. It felt great to sit in the car and have Allie drive us home again. And what a thoughtful daughter she is. After she dropped us off, she went out again and brought home Chinese takeaway. 

The weather forecast for tomorrow sounds a bit 'iffy.' We're going to bed tonight, crossing our fingers that we'll be able to enjoy our time then on the beach just across the harbor from Whitianga. It's quite a famous place after all.  -djf

 (and since I'm writing this post after the fact...I can tell you not to worry for us...everything turned out great..) 

Part 4...Mare's Leg Beach

After seeing the beauty of Cathedral Cove, you might not expect Mare's Leg Beach to be quite as exciting. The name certainly doesn't conjure up visions of grandeur like C.C. does. I assure you though, it is a place of amazing loveliness. Want proof? I've got it. Just take a look at these...

This beach was named Mare's Leg because at one time, there was a spindly, angled rock here that resembled a horse's leg. It was destroyed by a violent storm in 1976.

That's the 'Smiling Sphinx Rock.' 

Another view, and with a gull as a hat.

 Our campsite

 Looking toward the cave to C.C. 

Lots of people have arrived. The next picture shows part of the reason why...

It was now clear to us that hiking the mile and a half along a tortuous trail is not the only way to get to the cove. All you have to do is to fork over $15 per person and the water taxi will carry you from downtown Hahei. Hmmp. That's $30 for the round trip. 

I'm rather proud of us for doing the hike. 

 Here's a rock that has a handy shelf to sit upon...

 It's perfectly boy-sized.

What a hansome pair. 

 This little bit of cliff is nice to look at, but it hides something even nicer in plain sight. You've just got to get closer to see it. 

A tiny perfect waterfall and look at that hint of a rainbow. 

I tried it out too. It is Cold! Arram's expression says it all.  
Here, take a closer look at it in this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snpzwqZ6FQs&feature=youtu.be

 A view of the waterfall from the corner of the cliff.

Now you can see it better. 

 I could sit and look at such a coast for hours. 

 Allie keeps a very close watch on the boys. 

 Mike and Kim, how'd you like to take your kayaks in there?

The day is passing. We hate to leave this spot, but we want to get to Hot Water Beach too. It's just about time to start the hike back. 

 From the beach, you climb seemingly endless steps before getting back on the trail.

Jeanne is looking at what is still required to be climbed. Our carpark is on top of those cliffs.  

 We're almost back again. Time to take one more shot toward the magic we've lived in for the past 5 hours. 

We did it. There and back again. You see Jeanne relaxing with a well-earned cuppa. Allie and the boys are off to get ice cream. 
(I had an Earl Grey, at the Hahei, Cafe.)

We've seen wonders today, but Amiri's shirt reminds us of the wonders of our home. I could point on his t-shirt to dozens of places around the U.P. that awed and thrilled Jeanne and I. 
I commented on the colors of the water at Cathedral Cove in the last post, but I've never in my life seen more beautiful colors in the water than at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. Here's another spot near Munising that took our breaths away...   -djf

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ICTpo_AFd0

Part 3... Earth and Narnia share a beach...

I'm going to start off today's post with a video. It's from the movie Return to Narnia. The picture I'm showing you below is very close to the scene in the movie that appears in this clip at second 49. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkXvdIPgyTA

That's Arram walking in the water and Amiri, standing on a rock. 

I've shown you this by way of introduction to Cathedral Cove. Our day started with a visit here, and subsequent posts will show you the rest of our busy day at Mare's Leg Beach, which lies at the other end of this tunnel in the rock, the town of Hahei and Hot Water Beach. 

*****

I'll back up now to the beginning of our adventurous day... 

The adults are up having coffee and opening the blinds all around...Looks like it will be a good day for our trip to Cathedral Cove. 

Pretty soon, the kids are up, and we have breakfast. Our backpacks fill up with bottles of water, energy bars and snacks of various sorts. We stop at a bakery on our way out of town and load up on sandwiches for lunch. Here we go...

Although the Cove is only 6 miles away as the crow flies, it's about a 40 minute drive to get to it, because there is no car ferry across the harbor in Whitianga. We had to drive all the way around said harbor, and it is a large one, that stretches quite a ways inland.

On our way to the cove, we passed the road that would take us, later in the day, to Hot Water Beach and drove through the little town of Hahei, where we would later refresh our tired muscles with tea or ice cream, depending on which generation we belonged to. 

So, here we go...

We have now arrived at the carpark for the trail leading to the cove.

There is a viewing platform....

 Looking to the right. That's Hahei in the distance.

 To the left lies the cove. It doesn't look like it, but it's about a mile and half to the cove.

In this video I pan across the scene. Amiri is getting bored I think with the wait for us to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7hby5OtJKs&feature=youtu.be

 We did finally start. I thought it might be all downhill. It was at first. We went down about 300 feet, then back up 290, down 300, up 250 again and finally down about 350 to the beach.  

 It became clear very early in the hike, that Jeanne and I were going to fall way behind Allie and the boys. We opted to take our time and not have heart attacks along the way. 
This was the scene that greeted us when we finally arrived at the beach. Allie had selected a site for our blanket, backpacks and so on, and the boys were already having sandwiches. She selected wisely. It stayed shady all day and the beach got very busy. We had one of the best spots available. 

 We're currently on Mare's Leg Beach. We'll look at this beach soon. In the meantiime, there is the cave through to Cathedral Cove.
Let's go...

 Anticipation... I can't believe we're actually here. 

 And here we are...but let's back up a little and watch a video of coming through the cave...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6rzTjxU_yk&t=6s

 This is the view to the left as you walk out of the cave. 

Looking down the beach. This is the beach the kids in the movie played on. 

 Looking back toward the cave opening

 Te Hoho from the far side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U4zqBe2WMw

 The boys standing on a rock

I'm very grateful that as a kid, I was able to spend lots of time at Sunday Lake Beach in Wakefield. I'm even more grateful that my grandsons are able to experience this water play at such an astounding place as Cathedral Cove. I don't think they yet realize the opportunities that have been given to them. 

Look at those colours. I wish you could all feel the sun on your back and the waves at your feet.  

Crouching in a corner of the cave 

 This picture across the width of the cave gives you a little better feel for its size. 

Well, that's about it for this post. 

To end it, here's a video that starts on the Cathedral Cove side and rolls over the ceiling of the cave to the Mare's Leg Beach side of things. That's the next post. That side is every bit as amazing.   -djf 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxjLKgKQ5BI