Today I will tell and show you one wonderful beach in New Zealand, which is located on the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island — Hot Water Beach. The beach is located about 170 kilometers from the city of Auckland, and it is worth visiting the peninsula at least for its sake (although there, of course, there are many more interesting places).
I saw an interesting contest — Contest Beach Wednesday about the beaches of our planet and, it seems, I still have time to participate in it with my story :)
Like many of New Zealand's ocean beaches with clear golden sand and big waves, it is very beautiful. I'll show it first from above, so that it is clearer :)
On all sides it is surrounded by picturesque green hills, sometimes grassy and sometimes with trees. It must be a pleasure to wander around like this — all the more, if you climb higher, then you should have good views from above to the ocean and the surrounding area, although not from the height of the drone's flight, but it should still be very pretty.
And the scale of the waves from above is better visible... But not only and not so much in the ocean waves is the main reason for my interest in this beach.
Let's fly closer to the rocks sticking out of the water: now we have arrived at the right place.
Hmm, what is this here? Maybe the children were playing and building fortifications in the sand?
No! Look at the scale: there are several adults sitting inside. And what are they doing there, I wonder?
Then let's go back in time a little and go to photos from the ground. So, on a deep dark night, even before dawn, we woke up (slightly resisting, of course), took some necessary equipment with us and walked out of the hotel to the beach on foot.
The dawn had just emerged on the horizon as a bright stripe, and we were already working hard ... What were we working on, what do you think?
And here is our equipment — a shovel! There were several of them and at least all the men had to work with a shovel to dig a large enough hole for our warm company of 13 people, if I remember correctly.
Of course, I was periodically distracted from the process — not because of laziness, but solely for photography :)
And we didn’t just dig a simple hole there, but a real mini-pool with high sides of sand around the entire perimeter. Were we going to take air baths, or what? But the air at dawn by the ocean was cool, you can see some people in jackets (and some in swimsuits or swimming trunks in contrast :)), and the ocean water itself was rather cold.
Well, okay. It's all about the hot springs, as you probably already understood from the name of the beach :) Its name comes from underground hot springs that seep through the sand, and if you choose the right time for your visit, you can take thermal baths right in the dug in the sand pit overlooking the ocean.
And not only with a view: as the ocean water approaches you after the beginning of the tide, no matter how you enclose your pool with sandy walls, the ocean erodes them and begins to add its cold water to the hot one from the springs. And by the way, sometimes it's not at all in vain — the temperature of hot water can reach +65 degrees Celsius, so you need to dig carefully and check the temperature of the water that is gaining before you happily placing yourself into this pool entirely. There may also be colder water coming up near the hot spring, so this makes the temperature more comfortable.
In this photo, by the way, it can be seen that we are no longer alone on the beach: far behind we can see test piles of land, where people were looking for places with hot springs, and right behind us, a company that came up later digs up its pool, trying to have time to enjoy such an unusual relax on the ocean coast. In general, more people began to approach after the sunrise, when the tide had already begun higher and the ocean did not leave much time for hot bathing — you can see what a hole it had already punched in our sand wall and began to seriously cool our hot pool.
It was no coincidence that I mentioned the right time for such an activity: it makes sense to come to the beach to bask in a hot bath at a certain period of time, and it starts two hours before the low tide and ends two hours after it. This limitation is due to the fact that hot springs are located in the tidal strip and the rest of the time, when the water is higher, the places of their exit to the surface are already under water. Neither digging a hole nor a hot temperature can be obtained.
Since the time of high tide and low tide is constantly changing, New Zealanders hang out a schedule especially for beach visitors, where you can understand when to go to low water. On the Internet, you can see it here, and in hotels nearby to the beach, I think it is everywhere (in ours it was definitely). Moreover, in the hotel they gave us shovels, because very few people carry this tool with them on vacation. However, in a surfer shop located somewhere nearby, they can be rented, as far as I heard.
In some ways, we were even lucky that on the day of our visit, the water was low at night and dawn, otherwise, since the beach is very popular, and the places near the springs are limited, during the day thermal baths will most likely have to be taken together with a crowd of people who also don't mind getting warm. It's ok, but to be on a practically deserted beach (only 4 people came before us and we settled down far from them) and watch the sun rising over the ocean sitting in a hot water pool — it's just wonderful! Indescribable feelings. The main thing is that after undressing, do not climb out of hot water for a long time, so as not to freeze 😄
Also the rest of the day, the beach is perfect for ordinary beach activities: you can sunbathe, admire the surrounding views (here is the ocean, and green hills around, and rocks in the distance!), Wander knee-deep in cool ocean water and, in fact, swim in it — but the latter is recommended not everywhere, only in specially marked places, especially do not swim near those nice rocks sticking out of the water: strong waves and rip currents can be dangerous for untrained swimmers. But since the length of the beach is about 2 kilometers, it is not difficult to find a place for comfortable swimming :)
You can drive up to the beach in two places, both have parking, one is definitely paid, and the other, as far as I can see from Google maps, is free — but we did not check. The entrance to the beach itself is, of course, free.
In general, we were extremely pleased with Hot Water Beach — however, other beaches in New Zealand are also very good. They are mostly surprisingly picturesque, but Hot Water Beach's unusual secret and hot bonus exceeded expectations. If you are there, be sure to stop by!
It's better to watch photos in high resolution.
Camera: DJI Mavic Pro
Exposure time: 1/25 sec
Aperture: F 2.2
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Focal length: 4.73 mm
35 mm equivalent: 26 mm
You can also see my photos in my blog LJ and in my profile on NatGeo. You can read a short interview with me here.
