Driving, Walking and a Hot Bath on the Beach!!!

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11th February 2009 - ROAD TRIP BEGINS: FIRST STOP......WHITIANGA!!!
I woke early after a poor nights sleep. The boys in our room came in late (3am) chatting loudly, my shoulder/arm is still sore and every time I rolled over I woke up in pain (not good when I am a wriggler) and I kept waking up thinking about how much there is to do in NZ and worrying about how I am going to choose (not a bad worry I admit)!! I didn't get out of bed straight away this morning though as once out I didn't want to have to get back in. Never seen beds so high and as luck would have it I ended up on the top bunk. The bed must have been 6 feet from the floor...surprised I didn't get vertigo!!

I eventually got up at around 9am when I heard Nat stirring too. Following breakfast we bumped into Rich and Alex from Australia and had a quick chat with them as they had just arrived. Can't believe how small the world is!! Couldn't stay to chat for long though as we had to check out at 10 and get on our way! Our first job was a hair cut but once again the 2 salons we tried were failures. One was fully booked and I would have come out of the other with a blue rinse and a perm. I know I am knocking on but I aren't quite at that stage yet!!

We gave up on the hair (not good especially when it looks like rats tails) and walked to 'Explorer' - the car garage where we had arranged to hire a car from. We fully expected an old banger with square ends...you know...they type a child of 6 draws at school! Turned out well.....it was a small 5 door Toyota...bit like a Yaris and a metallic gold colour. I was impressed. It was agreed I would drive first but when I got in I realised there was a pedal missing...eek!! I had never driven an automatic before!!I got out and asked the lady to do a run down for me and following that I was back in the driving seat and off. So easy...even for me!! I did go to change gear a few times but other than that it went well. She handled nicely and I soon enjoyed giving my left leg a holiday. As she was a car from the 'Explorer' garage I thought it apt to nickname her 'Dora". Fitting I thought!!

I drove us back to Base hostel where we picked our backpacks up from storage and set off on our way to Whitianga. The road signs were good but the map book given to us was shocking.....6 pages for the whole of NZ!! Either there aren't many roads or we needed a better map book!! Either way we hoped for the best and luckily we found a motorway heading south pretty shortly after setting off. We were heading in the right direction and decided to wing it rather than buying a more detailed map book proving that girls can navigate with the best of them!!

It was a nice drive.....very scenic and once off the motorway the roads were very windy, hill and mountainous!! I thought a lot about when we get our pushbikes as I drove up the hills and thought it may be worthwhile for someone to run a book at how many days I can do before I die of exhaustion.....some money to be made there I think!! Only kidding mum...I aren't going to die of exhaustion but it is going to tire me out...a lot!! Some good driving though...loving Dora and NZ scenery!!

We arrived in Whitianga at around 3pm. Nice little town. We called at the info centre first to find out where the hostel was and what there was to do in the area. The hostel was close and so we drove straight there and checked in. The hostel was nice. It had a beach front view with mountains in teh distance, window seats, no bunk beds, lots of bathrooms/showers, a big kitchen, TV room and free kayaks for hire. Very homely though i did feel a little like I was in an OAP home with the flowery decor!! Maybe I should have had that blue rinse and bought some worthers originals!!

One we had duped our bags we headed to the supermarket to do a big shop and then back to the hostel to cook some tea. We hadn't eaten since breakfast so we were starving and made a giant tea of spag bol...again!! Fast becoming our signature dish!! We then chilled out for a bit before flipping a coin to decide whether to go to the cinema or stay and watch the news channel in the TV room (only channel available)!! The TV room won. To make it better we had a wander for chocolate but everywhere was closed...not to be!! Once back at the hostel we had a brew, I finished yet another book and then we went to bed. The plan was to get up at 5.30am to watch the sunrise so I hoped I would sleep better than the previous night!!

12th February 2009 - WANT A BATH? JUST DIG A HOLE ON THE BEACH!!!
Nat's alarm went off at 5.30am...why did I agree?!! I pulled the covers over my head but then my alarm went off...no getting out of it!! I got up and slipped a jumper over my pjs. Hoping no one would see me I headed out with Nat across the road to watch for the sunrise. It was bloody cold!! Nat was sensible and took her mac and a scarf but not me......short pajamas and a thin jumper at 5.30am!! Idiot!! We sat and watched the water for a good while. At around 6am it started getting lighter and some colour appears in the sky. The sun didn't come up fully until around 6.40am and it was cloudy and came up behind a rock. Still worth seeing though as it still looked beautiful!! At 7ish I had gone numb with cold and so I scarpered back over the road to the hostel and jumped under the duvet. Took me ages before heat radiated into me and I could feel parts of my body again!! I hope the sun realised the efforts I had gone to!!

I woke up for the second time that morning at 9ish and went straight for brekkie. Nat followed within 5 minutes. It didn't look as cloudy as earlier and looked like it would be a nice day. After showering and packing up our thinks we loaded up the car and then went to hire some kayaks...for free!! Always the best activities!! The sea was pretty rough as there was a strong wind but we went out anyway. I like kayaking but not so good today as my shoulder was still hurting!! Think I really wrenched it when I fell down the stairs on Apollo!! Oh well...I pushed through the pain until 30 minutes later when we were back on shore.

We showered down at the hostel, dried off and then had some left over bolognaise for lunch before setting off to our next destination. It was Nat's turn to drive today and she drove back out of Whitianga and to Cathedrals Cove. We parked in the car park at the top and set off on a 40 minute walk down to the cove. It was a nice walk and the view of all the little island out on the water was really nice. The walk was mainly downhill too so we got there in no time. The cove was lovely. Blue/green sea, smooth sand (I won't say white sand because that really is a rarity in NZ - some is actually black) and just peaceful. We had a walk along the beach, had a paddle in the sea and took in our surroundings before setting off on the walk back up. The walk really was uphill as well and we made it even longer and tougher by going to see 2 other smaller coves along the way too - Stingray Cove (with no stingrays) and Gemstone Bay (without gemstone coloured sea)!! Still they were nice to see and broke up the walk (which was done at the speed of lightening I might add and made me very red in the face)!!

From the coves we headed back to the car and drove to Hot Water Beach. This is a special beach whereby 2 hours either side of low tide you can dig on the beach and if you dig in the right spot you can make a hot water pool to sit in. There were loads of people there when we got there digging away. We managed to borrow a shovel and joined in. Our first attempt was close but without the cigar!! Our water was only luke warm but still...it was a good effort!! Then...a woman came along before we had even sat in it and said "ooh...that’s a good one" and she stood in it. She wasn't even careful and knocked half of the side in. I couldn't speak and just stood gawping at her whilst she muttered away about the hole. To make matters worse her friend came over and stepped in as well. My jaw dropped even lower...any further and it would have hit the floor!! This was our hole that we had just dug!! I was not impressed at all!! I politely told them that I "would have to shift them soon as we wanted to test it out" and they stepped out but stayed to chat. Once I had gotten over the hole intrusion I realised that they were actually ok and pretty friendly. The husband even had a gravedigger spade (so so big..taller than Nat) which we borrowed to dig another hole where we hoped to find hotter water. Back of the net...this hole had water of the perfect temperature and after digging it we sat in for a good half hour relaxing!! Who would have thought it....a hot bath on a beach!!!

Very surreal to look around and see people sat in holes of sand and others digging holes. Some of the water was so hot it actually burned you if you got in. It was pot luck too and you wouldn't know until you started digging what the temperature would be. Good fun and a one in a lifetime I think!! Once we had sat there long enough we donated our hole and set off back along the beach to the car. We were very sandy to say the least and had to rinse off under a cold beach shower before we could get into Dora. I must have had a beach of my own in my bikini bottoms.....not pleasant!! Once showered off we got in the car, had a bite to eat and set off on the way...next Stop Rotorua!!

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Photos

Greedy!!!
Looks like tea for 4 people but no...just 2 of us!!!