Anniversary Blog 13 - New Zealand Road Trip Part 3
After leaving Rotarua we headed north and stopped at Waihi Gold Discovery Centre in the city of Waihi. We were too late to get a tour of the mine, but we still explored the center and walked around the area on our own. It was kind of cool to get a little of the history of gold mining in the area and compare it to the gold rush here in the states.
We headed further north and set up shop at On the Beach Hostel, which is now Buffalo Beach Luxury BnB (this place has had so many different names since our trip). It was interesting that we stayed at 4 different types of places while in New Zealand: a normal home turned AirBnB, an old school motor lodge, a modern hotel, and now a converted beach side apartment that would have been right at home in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It was a great spot with the only thing separating our front door from the beach being the two lane highway. We were on the north side of Whitianga right on Mercury Bay, which opens into the Pacific Ocean.
It was a nice and relaxing place and for the couple of days we were there we mostly relaxed at the beach, planned for our next couple of legs of the trip, and star gazed at the southern sky over the Pacific. It was amazing.
One afternoon though, we made our way up to Te Whanganui-A-Hei (Cathedral Cove). You park your car miles away from the actual beach, so we were treated to a really nice seaside hike along the mountainside to the Cove. There were little park areas and overlooks, so we were never bored, and it looks like plenty of couples and families had their own favorite spots along the route to just hang out and play or have a picnic. Unfortunately, it looks like for now the walking trails are closed, so you’re going to have to access the area by boat, kayak or water taxi. Hopefully, they are just being rehabbed because the walk was half the fun.
As we worked our way down to the beach, I was surprised by how many people were hanging out, but also how much open space there still was. There was some watercraft parked further away from the beach as the waves were crashing pretty good, and I’m sure you don’t want to get stranded in the sand as the tide does its thing.
The beach itself was beautiful. There were amazing views of the rock formations, the water was very blue, and it was just a really fun vibe the entire afternoon we were there.
Another place we checked out was Hot Water Beach. There is light geothermal activity at the beach, so if you come at the right time of day you’re supposed to be able to dig your own geothermal pool. We got there when the tide was a little high, so we weren’t able to build our own hot tub, but this was still a pretty solid beach, and the chilling was excellent.
We had a great time in New Zealand. It’s crazy to think that we enjoyed is as much as it did while only exploring a relatively small portion of it. We didn’t check out Auckland, the rest of the North Island, or ANY of the South Island. One day I would love to make it back down and check out the rest of the country, especially the nature in the South Island, but for now, it was time for us to head west, and check out the Land Down Under!
