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Published: March 4th 2009
Light emerging
Now...just remember I did whittle it down from 150 photos and I'm still only putting the best ones on.12/2/09 = A cathedral with a difference + a bath you dig yourself.
Alarm went off at 5:30am and reluctantly got out of bed into pitch black room. Stumbled around, toilet, grabbed scarf, cardi on, rainmac in hand and off we went 3mins later. Freezing when got outside and had to put mac on just to keep warm; Deb regretted not bringing hers. Did 30sec walk to beach then sat on bench to wait for sunrise. Bench wet, so had to rip and use plastic carrier bag found in pocket. Actually wasn't a carrier bag, was a spare dog poo bag that must have left in coat by accident. Glad I had it though, really came in handy. Deb declined use of extra dog poo bag...can't think why! Sat and waited patiently in cold then; sky still black at that time and stayed black for ages afterwards. Started to get light at 6:15 and took first photos. Deb got too cold then and went to sit in Sylvia (car) until next stage of rise happened. I was actually really happy on bench, watching sky and listening to music. Didn't take long this time; all started to happen at 6:30am. Sky
turned red, then orange, then sun started to come up. Was a cloudy day, so knew wouldn't see it all properly, but didn't help that sun was rising behind a mountain either! Never actually saw the ball of the sun, but the way it lit up the mountain from behind and the colour it turned the water was amazing; definitely worth the cold and lack of sleep.
Deb went back after that (at 7ish) because was so cold, but I stayed a little longer to see full change. Flicked through pictures while waiting and realised had taken over 150 just of sunset…whoops…am getting bit out of control with the whole digital thing lately! Started scouring through properly and being ruthless with delete button. Took me 40mins - was full daylight by now - and finally headed back to hostel, realising I was still in pyjamas while rest of town were out and about ready for work…embarrassing. Was 7:45 and loads of people were getting up and having breakfast while I was crawling back into bed. Not that I was tired, was just so cold that could hardly feel any of limbs…gripping at all with fingers was impossible. Huddled under
Even more light
Sorry, I just don't know what to call them. duvet, wrapped feet in and imagined I was next to log fire. Didn’t manage to get to sleep, but did warm up a little. Stayed in cocoon until 9am, then had to emerge for breakfast. Feet still like ice blocks, so put socks on…something should have done a lot earlier! Had Weight Watchers cereal = actually quite nice. Good job really, bought 3 boxes because it was on offer…I really am like my Mum! Chilled out for a little while, then got ready for sea kayaking, because kayaks were free to use at hostel 😊.
Put ridiculously large life jacket on (literally had to wrap it round body 3 times), then off we went to beach. Got wiped out by a wave before even got in kayak…great! Got in, wet through, and paddled out. Didn’t really have anywhere particular to head to and wind quite strong, so not allowed to go far. Just ended up having a steady paddle out and a quick chat. Debs’ shoulder still hurting too, so couldn’t go much further. Have told her to go to doctors a million times Sue, but she just won’t listen! Came back in after 30mins and was even worse
Me and the breaking daylight
Modelling the pyjamas and mack look...I think it will take off next season. than entry to water. Got totally wiped out by a wave this time…as in it washed over kayak, tipped it over and threw me out. Opened eyes and was face down in sand, splatted out like a starfish…right in front of a guy just chilling out on beach. Don’t know how he managed to not laugh! Pulled face out of sand, spat out sand swallowed and scraped self up. Looked round and Deb was much further down beach; she didn’t even see it. Good thing really. Ran back into water to retrieve poor kayak and dragged my sandy self back onto verge of beach.
Went back to hostel and got quick wash off; never going to get rid of all this sand. I am literally a sand monster! Wanted to get straight off then to visit Cathedral Cove, so had lunch. Had to eat last bit of bolognaise (couldn’t waste it), then packed up and off we went. Really excited because my turn to drive Sylvia today…fingers crossed. Got in and couldn’t believe how much easier it was. Tried for the gearstick and clutch a couple of times and then just got used to it. Glad haven’t rented her
Pretty clouds
Well, I think so. for too long; don’t want to get too used to it. Made life so much easier not having to worry about gears and just found myself gliding along…am a definite fan of the automatics. Got to Cathedral Cove with no injuries, no deaths, no fatalities = good all round… can’t afford the $1000 insurance bond! Took just 30mins to get there, parked up, then set off for 40min walk to Cove. Was a really nice view from top and looking forward to getting down. Had heard how awful walk was because of hills and it wasn’t exaggerated. Whole walk there was downhill, so all walk back = uphill…wish was other way around. Do need some exercise though, so suppose can’t complain.
Luckily, walk only took 30mins and Cove itself was lovely. Don’t know why called Cathedral Cove because was just a giant arched rock, but was nice to look at with surrounding beach and sea. Water was beautiful, really beautiful and definitely best/greenest seen in NZ so far. Really wanted to swim in it like other people were, but didn’t want to get all car wet, so decided not to. Had a walk through cove to beautiful beach beyond,
then did walk back. Wasn’t as bad as expected, just good exercise. Back in car then and did 10min drive to Hot Water Beach. Couldn’t believe how busy it was when we got there. There were crowds of people all over beach, especially around one area. Were worried initially about knowing where to dig for water, but seeing people chunked all in one area kind of gave it away. Tipped up to where everyone was and took a minute to survey the scene. Looked crazy; absolutely crazy. Beach full of a complete assortment of people (ages, genders, nationalities, sexes) all doing same thing: either digging for hot water, or lounging in it. Awesome. Found a free spot, asked a nearby lounger if could borrow her spade and started the big dig.
Dug a few times and checked temperature of water = warm 😊. Carried on digging then, until had our own, 2 person sized bath to sit in. Stood in it and disappointed to find it was distinctly luke warm…after all that effort! Checked a few other pools out and they were all hot, in fact some were so hot that they burnt your feet. Dug it now though,
so were at least going to sit in it. Started to get ready and turned round to find 2 older ladies plonked in our pool. Debs’ face was a picture…if looks could kill, those ladies would have been shot dead over 1000times in a millisecond. Had to laugh, but she did end up telling them to get out of pool anyway; in a nice way of course. Climbed in pool ourselves then, but not impressed. Lasted all of 1min, before decided we had top dig another one. Ours was luke warm, was a space next to us, then pool after that was way too hot. Think you can see where I’m going with this, but just in case…came to conclusion that if one too cold and one too hot, space in between should be just right, said Goldilocks. Got out and started to dig. Needed a spade, so asked the old, pool stealing couple from earlier. And what a shovel they had…yes…shovel, not spade. They had a shovel that was taller than me. Actually felt like I was digging a grave when tried to use it. Took a lot of perseverance, but eventually ended up with the perfect sized bathtub/grave
for 2. Checked the water…success…hot water. Not luke warm, not boiling, just hot = lovely! Climbed straight in and sat in lovely hot water with pride 😊 Chilled, chatted and marvelled at all people on beach. What a weird thing for so many people to come and do, but totally cool though.
Had 30mins to marvel in our creation, then kindly donated it to a foreign family on the hunt. They tested it out and were more than happy to take it off our hands…pools like that don’t come round everyday. Ha! Went to get quick shower then to try and remove some of sand once again stuck to body, including the bucketful that seemed to have accumulated in my bikini pants! Wasn’t an easy job, since showers were outdoors for everyone to see and a big queue of people looking at you, waiting. Not v.discrete. Did what I could though, then headed back to car for last drive of day to Rotorua. Gobbled down some sandwiches before started journey, then off we went on 3hr+ drive. Was a beautiful route with amazing scenery, but also quite mind numbing after a while. All seemed to do was turn corner
after corner of mountain, until had spiralled all way up, then had to come all way back down. Round and round and round, up, up, up, then down, down, down. That lasted for the whole journey. Bit fed up after 30mins…only 3 hours left. Least didn’t have to change gears all the time, that would have been an absolute nightmare. Definitely can see why they sell automatics in NZ.
Arrived in Rotorua at 8pm and thankfully some of drive had been on motorway. Never thought I would have been happier to drive on a motorway, but I actually wished more of it was on motorway. Steering was really hard work and hands were tingling with all effort of it when I took them off wheel. At least foot wasn’t hurting from having to use clutch. Checked in and put bags in room. Looked like quite a nice hostel and a good place to chill. Didn’t spend long there; went to supermarket to get some milk for breakfast. Was throwing down with rain, so Deb decided not to come, but I really needed walk after being in car so long. Got wet through in just 5min journey; rain bouncing off
floor. When got back, internet at hostel was full, so wondered out in rain again to use internet at McDonalds. Got there, and was too expensive, so trammed back in rain instead. What a waste. Got some leaflets to read and went up to bed early instead. Deb managed to jump on internet and I chatted to a nice Swedish guy in room. Had to decide whether I was brave enough to try White Water Rafting in morning. Apparently = highest graded river possible = most dangerous it can be + has the highest rafted waterfall in world. Don’t know if I’m brave enough for that! Decided to sleep on it.
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