We stayed in Hahei near the famed hot water beach. Here, there are natural hot springs just beneath the sand.
Upon testing the water, we found it to be warm at best. Although it wasn't hot like we expected, it was still warmer than the ocean water. Notice the big muscles in action.
There were a few other families on the beach that evening. You can only do this during low tide, and on this particular time it was either 7pm or 7am.
The following morning, we decided to try again to see if we could dig a warmer hole. We were surprised how many were already there. To our delight, we definitely hit a hot spot this time! In fact, it was so hot we had to find a cold water inlet to keep the spring from burning our skin.
Enjoying the sunrise in our personal hot tub.
After the sunrise, we decided to take a hike along the beach to a place called Cathedral Cove. Gorgeous views along the way!
Spotted a lifeguard stand and had to get a picture with our favorite guard.
Made it to Cathedral Cove. This is an ocean-carved tunnel along the beach that is popular in many NZ pictures.
Here's the view once you're in the tunnel. Just beautiful!
Visitors usually turn around at this point, then hike back to their cars. Since we had our bathing suits on, we decided to venture through the water to the private beach.
Ahh, what a nice vacation. I couldn't think of a better way to spend our last full day.
Playing in the water...
One of our goals during the trip was to find a penguin. The Little Blue penguins are commonly found along the shores in NZ, but few venture this far north. Eric found one washed up along the shore. Our guess is it came in with the high tide and hit the rock. It's about two inches smaller than an adult size, so it was an adolescent. Sad to see it dead, but excited we finally saw a real one in it's natural habitat.
The kids found a stick and decided to use that as a visual to claim our territory. Anyone read Lord of the Flies? I see a resemblance here.
Our private beach lasted only an hour. As it got more crowded, we decided to have fun with the camera and found some friendly tourists to take our picture. Instead of a "jump" pose, we did a handstand pose.
Then one final picture with Ashlyn on the way back to the airport. It was hard to leave her behind! Looking forward to having her home in July.
