After we had completed our loop north of Auckland, it was time to head south and begin our southern loop. Our friends, the Kemps had planned to meet up with us and the meeting point was to be Cathedral Cove or Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island of New Zealand. Cody's brother, Kip, was living in Hamilton, New Zealand at the time so they met us in various stops along the trip.
We started out by meeting Kip, Emily, and Cy at Cathedral Cove, which is a beautiful beach a little bit off the beaten path. The girls hiked down to the beach while Cody and Kip paddled the gear across on an ocean kayak. The beach was beautiful, there was a beautiful beach cave that split the beach in two parts and a natural waterfall spilling right onto the beach. There were also some great cliffs...great scenery all around.
Eliza and Cody paddled the sea kayak a couple of miles off shore to the nearest island and made a circle around it. Cody did some cliff jumping, and the kids had a great time playing on the beach, in the cave, and in the waterfall. It was a hot day and this was a great place to play and relax.
Cody, doing a gainer off the cliffs at Cathedral Cove.
Video of Cody's gainer off the cliffs at Cathedral Cove.
The kids playing in the waterfall at the beach.
Zander and Cy, reunited and enjoying lunch together on the beach.
Looking through the beach cave.
The kids playing at the entrance to the beach cave.
Sawyer, playing in the shallow water on the beach.
Sawyer and Ryder hiking back up from Cathedral Cove.
Zander, playing with the kayak.
After Cathedral Cove, we headed over to Hot Water Beach to meet the Kemps. Hot Water Beach is the combination of geothermal hot springs that come up right on the beach, so when the cold ocean water mixes with the hot springs, it makes warm baths. People come from all around at low tide with their shovels to dig bathtubs in the sand and relax in the warm water and take in the views. You have to pick your spots quite carefully, because the hot springs are really hot...I mean SCALDING hot, so you need to pick a spot that has enough cold ocean water flowing into the pool. Sometimes you will come across a nicely dug bath that is completely deserted...don't be fooled, it is likely that this "bath" is too hot, which we found out many times by stepping into scalding hot water.
Our group, relaxing in the hot baths at Hot Water Beach.
It's not exactly a deserted beach, but it is a pretty awesome natural phenomenon.
Chilling in the hot baths.
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