Day 6- November 8th

We very nearly missed the bus today. I'm not sure how, but we managed to rock up to the bus just as it was pulling in to the stop- luckily for us it was running 5-10 minutes late. With one brief stop at the Pak'n save supermarket (a gigantic, warehouse style supermarket, renowned for its low prices but extremely difficult to find what you're looking for!), we arrived at hot water beach, leaving behind Auckland's wet, windy weather in exchange for beautiful sunshine.

Hot water beach, top 10 holiday park

The accommodation was pretty nice- wooden lodges with extremely clean, adjoining bathrooms
That afternoon we went kayaking again in the sea, and I hate to say it but I think the coast line and scenery of cathedral cove was even more impressive than where we went in Paihaia. The cliffs were white from the volcanic ash that formed them, and had been weathered to a point where an intricate honeycomb pattern had formed, giving them the appearance of some scenery straight out of a Dr Zeus book.

Emma and her new mate

Cheesy

We spent some time sunning ourselves on the beach and were then treated to tea, coffee or hot chocolate by our guides. One of my favourite things about this beach was the rainbow coloured sand- if you looked closely, you could see tiny flecks of pinks and blues dispersed in the grains. This phenomenon could probably be explained by gemstone cave which is just around the coast, which lives up to its name, home to a host of semiprecious gems. I suppose these stones eventually got broken up and ground down, to contribute to this amazing, rainbow coloured sand.

The high, arched ceilings of this cave give the cove its name

In the evening between 7-9, an hour either side of low tide, it was possible to go down to the hot water beach and dig yourself your own personal spa pool. Thermal water from an underground hot springs filters up through the sand, in which you can dig a hole to allow the hot water to escape to the surface. It can reach up to 64 degrees. However, the beach was pretty packed since it is very popular with tourists (annual visitor estimated around 700,000), so we headed back shortly for a home cooked dinner- baked pumpkin and red potatoes with homemade baked beans and green veg.