Entry 30: Smoked Mussels & The 309 to Hot Water Beach

Am:

The next day we had a quick drive around Thames, stocked up on food supplies (but didn't fill up on petrol- more on this later) and decided to drive up the coast to Coromandel town.

After arriving into Coromandel Town we checked out the local i-site and then went to the tasty sounding Coromandel Smoking Company- they smoke the locally caught mussels, so we bought a selection of garlic, sweet chilli and bbq mussels (and they were cheap!). I then drove down to a secluded beach and we ate them with big chunks of bread and drank ginger beer- yum. We also had a quick wander in the centre of town itself. Unfortunately, we were running low on fuel and although there was a petrol station, the fuel price was extortionate, so we filled up with a littel bit of petrol, but decided to risk it and drive across to Whitiangaa along the unsealed (gravel road) 309 road, and fill up there as it would be cheaper. Driving the 309 road was an interesting experience- it is clearly a single track road (and not a standard 2 lane road), and again there were more hairpin bends- although I was getting used to these. The views of the forest were beautiful though, and once we arrived into Whitianga we were able to find some petrol at a reasonable price and fill up. We then drove down to Hot Water beach and checked into the holiday park there as we needed a shower and wanted to cook in a kitchen.

After checking in we drove to Cathedral Cove, near the small town of Hahei as we couldn't go to the Hot Water beach until the next day (will explain more about why in the next post). The cove is a natural limestone and there are some lovely beaches and limestone formations, including an arch, along the coast. We did a couple of the walks down to the beaches and saw sunset down at the main arch- and we were lucky that it was a really warm day and the sunset was fab.

We made dinner and did some laundry in the evening. Dinner was nice, but we had to cook with loads of flies in the kitchen- some of which got into the pasta- not so nice. While we were waiting for the laundry, we watched some TV and then realised that some Kiwi's and Aussie's were watching the rugby on the big screen in the dining room. It was the final match of the Tri-nations between the All Blacks and the Wallabies, and the All Blacks were terrible, although they redeemed themselves a bit in the second half. Not a great result, especially as the Rugby World Cup would be starting in 3 weeks! It was bedtime after the match, as we needed to get down to the beach early.

After brekky we headed straight down to Hot Water beach. The beach sits over an area of geothermal activity, so at low tide you can head down, dig a hole in the sand on the beach and the hole fills up with naturally heated very hot water! We took down a bucket and spade, found a spot (the beach was already getting busy, and it was also really sunny and quite warm) and started digging. We dug a big hole, and it filled with hot water- part of the hole was over a really hot bit, and it was too hot to sit in, so we had to dig a channel so the hole was being filled with cold water too. So, for about 3 hours, we sat in our own geothermic spa pool on a beach! It was brilliant! We didn't want to leave, but the tide started to come in, and some people had cold sea water overwhelming their pool, so we thought it best to do one before getting a cold surprise.

After a quick shower, change and lunch we hit the road and listened to some downloaded radio shows on the MP3 player. It was good to catch up with some radio from home. We headed to our DOC campsite for the night, on the edge of Lake Okerara and made some dinner in the cooking shelter, which was (as you've probably already guessed) cheese and Branston pickle sandwiches. This was a slightly fancier DOC campsite, usually it was just a compost loo and a tap to wash your hands- no drinking water provide dbut we had a 5 litre container. What we could see of the Lake looked beautiful, but it was dusk and the light was failing pretty rapidly, so after dinner it was into pj's and then the sleeping bag. When there isn't light and other facilities we found ourselves going to bed pretty early (apart from maybe reading a bit or going on the computer) as there wasn't much else to do really! We would be getting up early anyway- Boba had pretty crap curtains so the light would wake us up.

Ajay:

In the morning, we made our way from the Thames DOC site to Coromandel Town which is along the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. This whole area is east of Auckland and juts out proudly into the Pacific Ocean forming part of the Hauraki Gulf. The morning drive in the sunshine was really nice as we snaked along the coast past pretty little bays and rocky beaches. On the approach to Coromandel Town we climbed over several hills and valleys before being presented with a great view of the island-studded Coromandel Harbour.

Coromandel Town is a quaint little place with a few heritage buildings, quirky cafes and a history of gold-mining. The main draw here for us, however, was the thoroughly delicious smoked mussels served up at the Coromandel Smoking Company. The company uses a traditional wood smoking technique, using native manuka hardwood, to flavour the fish. We picked a variety of different flavours including garlic, chilli and bbq to sample over lunch at a nearby beach and washed it down with some ginger beer. Delicious!

After lunch we drove eastwards across the peninsula towards Whitianga via the legendary 309 Road and then onto Hot Water Beach. The 309 Road is a scenic 21km journey of mostly unsealed road full of twists, turns and gradients that wind through farmland, Kauri forest and native bushland.

Once we had checked into our holiday park at Hot Water Beach, we headed out to Cathedral Cove near the beach town of Hahei. Cathedral Cove is a famous huge limestone arch formed by natural weathering and erosion of the rock by water. It was approaching early evening and as the sun set there was a beautiful pinkish hue embracing the skies and the bay.

Earlier along the trail to Cathedral Cove, we had stopped at Gemstone and Stingray bays - both of which were also postcard-picture bays with clear water and small sandy beaches. To balance this idyllic picture up, in the evening we fought with a swarm of sandflies while we tried to cook our evening meal...it ain't all bliss!

The next morning we headed straight down to lovely Hot Water Beach for some steaming natural hot pool action! Due to an extraordinary quirk of nature and geothermic activity within the area, for two hours either side of low tide we were able to dig a hole in the sand which would soon flood with hot water that would ooze up from beneath the surface. The water was so hot and bubbling in sections that we had to make little passage ways for cold water to mix with the hot water in the pool to keep the temperature bearable. It was great fun and we just relaxed in the hot pool in the sunshine for a few hours. Quality!

After showering up and lunching, we hit the road again and headed south towards Rotorua. One of the great things about driving was that we could catch up with radio podcasts and downloads: on this particular leg we listened to a great interview with Richard Russell, head of XL Recordings on the GP Worldwide show. We camped at a DOC site at Lake Okerara.