Hot Water Beach

 

After driving back from Paihia to Auckland we stopped at Nomads backpackers, as opposed to Base where I had stayed before, for a few hours to relax and sleep before we got on a new bus to hot water beach the next day (Monday 8^th July). The 12 bed dorm was full so it was a bit hectic getting in and around (and people thought a 12 bed house was bad!)  But it felt a lot more social and laid back than Base and I chatted to the few I could see from my top bunk and spoke to a girl about Queenstown. She had just flown from there to Auckland, as it was quicker and cheaper to fly than get the bus, and said it was crazy busy, freezing cold and super expensive. She did say she was offered several jobs in the 4 days she was there, which is good as I was thinking about working for a month in QT to earn enough money to not worry about spending it. She also came over to my bed later in the evening with a neatly folded pile of clean winter clothes saying she won’t need them in Malaysia, and it’s cold where I am going, and there is nothing worse than being cold, I was very grateful.

Mhairi and I got the bus the next day, German Mike was there too, we’d been talking to him throughout our stay in the Bay and he was a familiar face so we three embarked on the new bus journey together. There were a lot of people on the bus, mostly in pairs, and the first of many similar conversations began. Where are you from, where have you been and where are you going are the most common questions, but they all generally yield different responses so it’s a good ice breaker. Unless you get a drawler, aka a monotone know it all, these people have already done everything you didn’t even know you wanted to do and found it as dull and as uninteresting as they think you are. On the bus the driver Josh was telling us facts and tales on the way, and advertising activities with more clip boards, he told us where to dig our own hot pools at hot water beach and that you need to go at low tide, which was about 2pm, and we would get in to our purpose built resort at Hot Water Beach at half 1.

We arrived in the area around 3pm, because we stopped for a supermarket stop on the way, so we couldn’t make it to the only free attraction the driver had been talking about. Aside from digging your own hot pool there is not much else on offer. A few of us went kayaking, as they reduced the price if more than 6 people went, so 8 of us paid $50 for 3 hours of seananigans. It was pretty fun being able to play in the water next to beautiful cliffs and luscious green islands, the tour guide was also an appreciated sight, as my fellow female kayakers agreed. Better yet, halfway through we moored up onto Cathedral Cove (apparently the Can’t hold us Macklemore video was shot there?) and this beautiful man served us a variety of hot beverages with free mini cookies. After the drinks we headed to some islands a bit further out, we kayaked through a tunnel seen in Narnia and saw some cheeky seals chilling on the rocks. On the way back we rafted up and the man told us how the place got its Maori name, Te Whanganui-A-Hei which translates to ‘The great Bay of Hei’ and one of the islands loosely resembles a nose so the legend is that its Hei’s breath that protects the land of his ancestors.

 

 

Back at the lodge the rest of the bus had checked in and Mhairi and I were sharing with a couple of Netherland Dairy Farmers and a Brazillian Guy I came to know as ‘Sir Elton’ as he had never heard of Elton John. They had left me the double bed! Which made me so happy I took a picture!

 

The general consensus was that we would go down to the beach at 11:30pm to attempt to dig our own hot pools, ambitious! In order to stay awake we started playing drinking games, a few of us were still carrying duty free around with us and trying to lighten our loads. After a few games like ring of fire, yee-haw and rocket it was time to stumble to the beach. I went to put my swimsuit on and made my way to the beach, which was a good 15 minute, pitch black walk away, guided only by the footpath and several torch apps. We got there and people had gathered around a few spots, one guy from Yorkshire was already naked and wondering around, took us a while to notice as it was pitch black and people generally shone light on your face when you were talking to them. Apparently 5 out of 22 of us had thought to get a spade on the way to the beach, so progress was slow. After a fair few rum and L&P’s (NZ lemonade) I really wanted to dig a hole and sit in a natural hot pool! So I think I had a bucket and started scooping some sand out of a sort of existing hole. I remember someone laughing at my futile efforts as the wet sand just kind of slipped back in and then looking up to see about 10 people with their phones out and on me, still hoping they were being friendly and lighting up the area so I could see what I was doing and not filming the British lunatic in the swimsuit who kept scalding her feet on the ridiculously hot sand. Maybe I am a youtube sensation.

Woke up to feel horrendous, the night had been freezing cold and I had got sand all over the double bed, but after a shower and some porridge I was doing better and ready to board the 7am bus. I was again bolstered by the schadenfreude in me when I saw my other bus passengers who had drunk and dug more than myself. It was probably the quietest 4 hour drive of the trip with everyone sleeping and saving their energy for the Waitomo caves later that day, and that was my day at Hot Water Beach.