August 13th (Thursday) - Day 164 - Whitianga
Back on the bus but today was a break from the norm. The main bus only took us half way back to Auckland and dropped us off where we'd catch a connection bus up into the to Coromandel Peninsula. We had a brand new bus waiting for us at the connection point. I based on the 6 people on the main bus a few days prior and with this being an extra on the route I didn't think many people would be coming but we ended up with 9 people. Sarah almost couldn't come because her name wasn't on the guys list. His name was Murray and he was as laid back as all the other drivers we have encountered. Our first stop was meant to be "hot water beach" but as the tide was in we couldn't do the main attraction. Instead Murray said we could come back later as long as no one told the bus company he was breaking the rules for us. Instead we pushed on to the next stop; Cathedral cove. There were numerous ways to reach the cove and the highlight was meant to be Kayaking. But as the swell out to sea was to rough it was not running. We decided to walk in the end. It was a fair walk from the car park and we also went off the path a number of times to see some other coves. Cathedral cove was by far the best. It has one of the largest rock arches I have ever seen. It is also pointed (like a cathedral roof) and not round which is really unique. We sat down to grab a quick bite to eat and were instantly swarmed by sea gulls. They were quite aggressive so I tried to kick sand at them but most the sand ended up in Sarah's sandwich. She wasn't overly impressed with me. Once back on the bus we headed into Whitianga and to a bone carving centre. Not being arty I wasn't overly keen to make myself some jewellery but I gave it a go anyway. I choose to do a fish hook shape. This is meant to bring you success in life. First I had to complete the hole to form the inside. This was followed by rounding off all the edges with a dentist drill type machine. At this stage it is really rough so we had to spend quite some time sanding papering down the rough edges and making all the curves perfect. Once it was smooth the whole bone had to be softened with wet sand paper before finally being polished. The whole process took about 90 minutes. I am so proud of my work of art that I might actually wear it myself. Normally that would be the end of the day but now the tide was out we were back tracking to Hot Water beach. We had a few minutes to check into our hostel and make it over to the chippy where everyone was going to grab an early dinner. We then drove miles back down the road to the beach. This is one of the only beaches in the world with hot water springs. Hence you can dig your own sand hole and before you know it you have your very own spa. It was 6pm when we arrived so it was just starting to get dark. We had to find a spot which was hot which took a few minutes and then with the last remaining day light we dug a hole and jumped in. Other people in the ground then expanded our hole to form one giant spa. As the sea was quite rough a few waves reached our pools and the temperature turned from about 40c to minus 40c! We made a bit of a wall to keep the worst of it out. Now in pitch black we managed to get a good 20 minute spa before one massive wave came along and destroyed all our defences. That was when we knew it was time to leave. We had to wade back through the freezing cold sea (it has been beach on the way over). It was such a great experience and I am glad the driver broke the rules! Everyone was on a natural high on the bus for the journey back to town.