Why aren’t there beaches like these in England?!

On Thursday, February 23, I visited two more places that became favourites.

The first was Cathedral Cove, just north of Hahei. It was accessed via an enjoyable half-hour walk from the car park. It was a gorgeous spot, with a huge stone arch and waterfall shower. There weren’t many people there, and everyone smiled at each other as if we were sharing a secret, although I imagine in peak season it’s not quite the same. Stingray Bay, a short diversion en route back to the car, was similar, and I had it all to myself. I don’t know if there were any stingrays there, but there were lots of crabs in the rockpools.

The second place was Hot Water Beach, just south of Hahei. It’s got to be the perfect beach. It was amusing to see so many adults carrying spades to the beach, but they weren’t going to build sandcastles. The long stretch of lovely golden sand was more or less deserted, and there were only a few people with bodyboards enjoying the fairly decent waves in the clear water.

All attention was focused on the relatively small patch of the beach where, for a couple of hours either side of low tide, you can dig a hole and hot water oozes up to create a personal spa pool. It would be amazing to go surfing until you started to get cold, and then jump in a pool to warm up. I considered spending the afternoon this way, but then it began to rain very heavily, so instead, I went back to Whitianga and looked around the town briefly before settling down indoors.