Saturday, March 6, 2010

Coromandel Peninsula - Cathedral Cove - Hot Water Beach

Friday March 5, 2010

The shuttle bus left Thames around 10 in the morning, giving me a much needed sleep in. First stop was Cathedral Cove. Had about 3 hours to wander around there. Beautiful.


Had an awesome time in the water in the cove. Pretty solid waves as well. Got tossed around a bit but it was all part of the fun.



Next stop was Hot Water Beach, one of the strangest, most cool things I have ever experienced. On a section of the beach you dig a whole and get 64 degrees Celsius hot water, hot enough for you to only withstand it for a couple brief seconds. I forgot hot to convert celsius to Fahrenheit, but i just know it is hot as.


Many people were digging themselves their own hot pools.


I was content just digging my feet in. Even out in the waves a bit, you could feel the hot water under the sand yet have the cold ocean water above your ankles, such a strange feeling. It was still a bit of high tide so I was able to feel this. It was only a certain section of the beach. It is all caused by a crack in the earth with a nearby stream.  Despite the science behind it, something very very cool.

Said goodbye to my warriors towel as I no longer needed it. (No I did not leave it on the beach)


I spent the night in the small town of Coromandel.  I stayed at Anchor Lodge, so so place. A lot of asians staying there.  Nearby was an old gold mine that you could go into and see glow worms. Coming off of a great glow worm experience in the waitomo caves I was definitely interested in this.

I braved it through the long dark old gold mine, slushing barefoot thru cold mud.  I had a torch but was a bit scary all by myself.  The worst part about it, as I reached the end of the cave about 50 meters in, not a single glow on the walls. No Glow Worms....was pretty bitter on that after I made the dark trek through. Bad timing I guess, maybe a few weeks off.

Still got a SICK picture of the cave, really like this one, not sure where the different colors came from, perhaps some gold traces?



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