Cathedral Cove & Hot Water Beach

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CATHEDRAL COVE & HOT WATER BEACH

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12th February 2019

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Hello to the first official day of the Kiwi Experience...

We got the bus from central Auckland about 9am and started the journey to Hot Water Beach, the first stop of the trip. It took around 4 hours driving, plus a few breaks along the way, to reach the Coromandel Peninsula where Hot Water Beach is located. The bus was ridiculously full, every seat filled but luckily we managed to get a seat together - thank god ay!

The journey was well worth it as we reached our destination and our hostel which was the Hot Water Beach Holiday Park only 5 minutes from the beach itself. Hot Water Beach itself is actually rated one of the worlds top 10 beaches by Lonely Planlet and it’s clear why (although Cathedral Cove was actually a nicer beach haha).

We first trekked to Cathedral Cove, located further along the coast and it took about 45 minutes to reach it from the place where the bus dropped us off. Although the walk itself was rather strenuous it was well worth it when we saw the cove...

We went swimming in the cove, and got taken out a few times by the waves as they were so big. They came from every angle you could imagine - rather dangerous! There was only so much of that we could do haha!

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We later returned and got comfy in our hostels and had dinner. Then ventured to Hot Water Beach itself. We were so convinced that it wasn’t going to be as hot as 65 degrees (as we had been told) however were surprised to find that the sand actually burnt out feet it was so hot. We sat in the dug out holes on the beach with a load of the people from the Kiwi Bus who are all really nice!

A very crowded scene! But so good! What a treat of a day!

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Happy day 1 of the Kiwi Experience - miss you all loads!

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- A