Carving at the bone

Trip Start Sep 10, 2008
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Trip End Sep 03, 2009


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Flag of New Zealand  , North Island,
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A day on the road in New Zealand is never a day wasted. In fact, its probably more interesting than the towns themselves. The scenery is always stunning, and sometimes pretty interesting. That was true of one of our stops on the way to Whitianga, (which is of course pronounced footyanga, but I'm sure you have guessed that from the spelling!). Unfortunately, there is a small time frame to see this spectacle, that being for the 2 hours at low tide. We were told we wouldn't make it there for that time. But we lucked out. Shame we weren't equipt with our swimming costumes and spades when we got there, both of equal importance in this situation. For this was hot-water beach, at low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and it fills with hot water from an underground spring. Hey presto! you have your own spa bath. We left our shoes behind and went for a paddle in some of the abandoned holes. Some of them had probably been abandoned as they were right on top of the spring and could scald your skin off they were so hot A long way from home!
A long way from home!
 ! I never imagined that the water would be THAT hot. It was a really nice atmosphere on the beach, which was inevitably full of people. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we found a little crab. We were very sad when we had to make our way back to the bus.

Onwards and upwards, or perhaps upwards and then downwards as we picked our way along the long path to Cathedral Cove. The driver really wasn't kidding this time when he said it was a 2 hour round trip. New Zealanders tend to dramatically overestimate the time you need to go somewhere, maybe they are just a nation of very slow walkers. I was very glad that he had insisted we all took water with us, the day was scorching and the path steep. It was worth it for the views. Along the way, we were offered tantalizing snippets of the coastline, the water a perfect turquoise blue, crashing against white cliffs. It was certainly worth the walk, if you have seen the second Narnia film, this is where the children re-enter Narnia. Although I didn't realise that until watching the film later! The cove frames the blue waters beautifully. I had no idea that New Zealand had this kind of scenery, it looked more like South East Asia, with large rocks protruding proudly from the ocean.

Huffing and puffing our way back up the path, we made it back to the bus in one piece, ready for the rest of the journey Hot water beach 1
Hot water beach 1
 . The coach driver gave us the option of getting a ferry to Whitianga which would cost us $2 and take about 2 minutes to get to the destination, or staying on the bus with him, as he went on the 45 minute journey winding round the roads. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we all took the ferry option. I hadn't planned it, but I ended up spending an extra night here, so that I could design my own necklace and then carve it out of bone. I was very glad that I took the extra time, not just for the necklace, but for the village itself. The beach was lovely. On the first night the sunset was lovely, and people from the hostels and guest houses rushed down onto the beach to watch it.

There was a little confusion with when we were meant to meet the bus to get our bags, caused by the inevitable thing that happens when a group of travellers get together, we all switch off, imagining that someone else will listen and know what's going on. Of course no-one listens, but we got our bags eventually! I said bye to the Magic bus once more, and opted for local transport, I still had a schedule to keep!
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