The Coromandel Peninsula is a destination we cannot miss, so today we will ride to Whitianga. We will spend a couple of nights there so we can catch the low tide at Hot Water Beach and dig ourselves a hot tub!
Excellent riding, long sweeping curves Kev and I were in the groove much of the day. On our way to Whitianga we decided to stop at Hot Water Beach to see what it was all about. At 2 hours either side of low tide you are able to dig a hole in the sand and have hot water seep up. Awesome…this we'll have to do! The morning low tide has already been, tonights is at 8:45pm…We'll be back for the morning low at 9am! I had booked a holiday condo for our Whitianga stay, and they had upgraded us to one with a garage which was really cool! I always mention that we need parking for the bikes, and so, it has happened that several times we have been upgraded…Awesome!
Woo Hoo… it looks like a fairly warm morning to ride to Hot Water Beach, less our riding gear. It happened to be quite chilly really, but my grips on full burn helped warm me up when they weren't burning my hands…ha ha ha! We rented a couple of shovels and grabbed some towels and 1/2 an hour later we were digging for hot water! It was really a sight…already at least 30 or so people had dug their personal tubs in the sand and were stretched out in all positions soaking. There were some spots that had literally had boiling water seeping up, it was incredible. We found a sweet spot and dug a pit, it was really trick. As the waves crashed down the sides of our tub we would need to rebuild them to keep the hot water in. As the time wore on this was happening more and more with the tide coming in. People were constantly on the look out for a hotter tub…as people left their sand tubs another would grab it…it was almost like musical chairs, or tubs and pretty funny looking. We hung out for just over an hour and were able to upgrade up to several warmer models in that time…Ahhh!
Hahei and Cathedral Cove were only 11k's from Hot Water Beach so we headed over to that area of Mercury Bay after our soak. The views of Cathedral Cove were amazing, can this country be any more stunning? We headed back to the condo relaxed and enriched for a relaxing afternoon by the pool.