Hot Water Heaven

Catch-up

It seems that many of those that had walked to Cathedral Cove were now on a mission to tick another 'must do' off their list. 

With low tide due in a little over an hour, the road to Hot Water Beach was very busy.  

The carparks were filling up... 

North end carpark

...and a steady stream of people, carrying a range of colourful shovels and wearing an assortment of swimsuits or in various stages of undress, were making their way along the sand... 

...arriving from both ends of Hot Water Beach, all heading towards a gathering of people near the centre. 

It's here that hot water bubbles up through the sand from two springs that are located about 2 kilometres underground. 

And if you dig yourself a hole the seawater & hot water mix and form a natural hot pool to soak in. This is only possible though for about 90 minutes either side of low tide.

Those that arrived early leave large holes behind them as they move down the beach following the tide as it recedes. Those without shovels or haven't the energy to dig can find a luke-warm sandy slurry in the pools left behind, enough to soak your feet in.

Here are a few more photos; I often don't see the various idiosyncrasies and interactions taking place while I'm shooting so I love checking the photos out afterwards. Click on them to enlarge.

Check out the boys in black tights (one with a hole in the butt!); they digging towards Spain and they only have their hands.

How about the guy in his Calvin Kleins. And the tiny baby being held by Poppa while the family have a soak.

One of the boys has found himself a spare shovel, and groups of foreign tourists are sharing a pool, chatting and making friends. 

The boys are still digging, their pool getting wider and wider- perhaps they can't read English either, the water must be hot as no one is soaking in that area. The lady in pink has found an empty pool and is holding it for friends getting changed.

The guy in the Calvin Kleins really should stop digging. And what about the guy with the guitar.

These are the owners of the feet in the first photo.

And a last couple of photos of the many people enjoying the Hot Water Beach experience.

Here's a few tips for when you visit Hot Water Beach; 

1) Beg, borrow or buy a shovel, as a last resort hire one for an exorbitant price. 

2) Change into your swimwear before you walk to the beach area. If you must wear your underwear, make sure it doesn't stretch when wet.

3) Leave all unnecessary gear, including guitars, in the car.

4) If it's a cold, grey, overcast day, take a towel & a warm jacket.

6) Be prepared to get sand where the sun don't shine. 

5) There is a cold water shower on the deck beside the restaurant; you must leave your swimwear on though (and no I don't have a photo of that one!)  

6) It's a longer walk from the first carpark (the one shown in the photo up above). If you park at the end of the road near the cafe/restaurant and houses you will have to cross a small stream, which is fine if you've removed your shoes (watch for sinking sand around the small rocks near and in the stream). 

The best park is the second one, this carpark may look deserted and you might want to drive to the end thinking you'll be closer to the beach but you won't, the 2nd carpark has a short walk through bush to the dunes and brings you out on the otherside of the stream. So no wet feet and closer to the action.

The beach was nowhere near as busy as the last time I visited it but then again that was in late summer. As I mentioned then, thankfully other 'hot water beaches' around New Zealand aren't as accessible or as well known as this one. Not yet anyway, *touch wood*.

Weird, Wacky & Wonderful #2

This afternoon I heard the cruise ship, which was in port, blast its horn to announce its imminent departure so I thought I'd "race" around the Base Track from the opposite direction to catch the ship coming out through the entrance.

I made good time & waited patiently on a point half way round but with no sight of the ship after 15 minutes or so I thought it may have just been calling the passengers back to board instead. So I started to wander back to the van and got about two thirds of the way home when I heard three blasts on the horn. Bugger! The ship does this to say goodbye as it pulls out past Pilot Bay on the inner harbour side of the Mount. On a beautiful sunny day like it was today, Pilot Bay & the Base Track are usually lined with people waving goodbye. The Entrance is rather narrow and a huge cruise ship like the Sea Princess makes a spectacular sight as it sails through so close to land. I didn't quite make it back to the point when I spotted the bow through the trees that line the track.

The upper decks were lined deep with passengers, the ship arrives early in the morning and most would have missed the approach to the Mount. I could hear loud happy music being blasted around the ship as it moved slowly through the water while the pilot clambered down the ladder & back on to the pilot boat. And then the ship sailed off into the sunset bound for Auckland by the direction it took.

On my way back to the van for the second time I spotted this black back gull landing on a picnic table & heard a bunch of girls shouting at it from where they were down amongst the rocks. "Hey, quick, the gull's getting our food" One of them rushed up waving her arms just as the gull lifted off with something in it's bill. "Hey!!" she screamed at it "you've got my hair tie!"  And it had, it flew a few metres & by then had decided it wasn't food & dropped it amongst the rocks further out.

Back at the van I saw a regular coming down the walkway, Mr "High Pants". Mr HP walks the boardwalk most afternoons in this getup, perhaps he can't have the sun on his skin but he sure looks like he'd be sweltering in there. Back & forward he strides, he must do at least six lengths of the boardwalk along the beach front, he turns around at the stairway by us & heads off back down again to return about 20 minutes later. An odd character for sure.

The Weird, the Wacky & the Wonderful

Sunday evening & our time at the Mount campground is coming to an end. Just two more days & we’ll be on the road, heading for the next two week stop, Napier for more farewells.

We’ve had an extremely busy time here & today was the first time in over two weeks that we’ve been able to relax a little & enjoy the sunny weather & all the activity going on around us.

 After my last blog post I know you’ll all be keen to hear that the total on the counter at 5pm this evening was 44,881. That’s forty four thousand, eight hundred & eighty one! That means that a small city of 32,435 has passed by our door over the last 10 days, 9880 people alone have pounded the boardwalk this weekend (or plodded, as the case may be) And from my seat at the table I have a good view of the passing traffic in all its various forms.

So many people doing so much exercise. I felt worn out watching them all.

Both these lots were doing extreme exercise! The paddlers would have paddled back & forth across the bay at least 20 times & the runners were up and down those steps a similar number of times.

The camp site has filled and emptied many times over since we’ve been here. After the storm blew through we had the place to ourselves for a few days, it was lovely;  peace & quiet.

I wonder who lost a hatch cover in the storm?

The last few evenings have brought a steady stream of hire sleepers & motorhomes of all shapes & sizes containing some interesting people. And this weekend the camp ground has filled up with caravans & families with plenty of children, some had come just for Saturday night.

These vans were either side of us for a couple of nights. I was in awe of the couple with the baby, so much gear was stacked in the van I'm surprised they managed to fit the baby in. As it was he sat outside in his plastic highchair in the cold wind whenever they had to do something inside (they wrapped him up & he was quite happy playing with his toys) I was more worried the wind was going to blow the chair over. And on our other side was a guy travelling alone but living like a king! He set up his table with all the gear for every meal. Very well organised he was.

At 6:30am this morning, while I was making a cup of tea, the young teenagers sleeping in the caravan awning next door to us decided they were going for a swim, two chickened out; one still has his sleeping bag wrapped around him. This is the brave one bellowing at the top of his voice as he came thundering up from the beach & straight through between the vans and on up to the shower block behind us. I think it was cold!

I can see life on the road is going to bring many interesting encounters & challengers especially for David. Here he is today being a mechanic & last night, a relationship counsellor. The German guys had just purchased their car & it wouldn't start this morning when they went to leave. The battery was flat or so it seemed but the jumper leads didn't help; David's & another guy that came by. So the car sat all day with a couple of sad looking travellers in it. They were going to wait until tomorrow before getting it to a workshop. But David came back from the lock up this afternoon with his battery charger & after a good charge the engine sprang into life. David has new best friends!

An Austrian couple were obviously experiencing a dose of cabin fever when they arrived in the afternoon. An argument in any language is easy to spot and after a couple of hours or so of heated discussion and much pacing & packing they had calmed down enough to engage in a conversation with David as he was passing later in the evening.

 And then just when we think we've seen it all along comes Tonto & the Lady Ranger. Don't ask...

Next, from around the point came some warriors in their waka.

The best (& the saddest) part of the weekend has been saying goodbye to friends & family that have been visiting us at the beach. After going out for lunch with the family we brought our darling grand-daughter Maddie back for one last play at the beach. We are going miss her & her brother Joel so very much when we leave but then we're looking forward to seeing our other two grandchildren, Ollie & Ruby very much too. We wish they were all in the same city.