Coromandel

The next morning we headed off to the Coromandel Coast. We stopped for lunch at the Grange Road Café. I had a spectacularly presented fish and chips, and Tim had nachos. We then went on a short hike to Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay. After our short hike, we went to the dive shop. We took a boat out and did a relatively short dive. It was pretty cold, but lots of different fish in comparison to the dives the day before: nudibranchs, a crayfish, anemones, sponges, kelp, lots of crevasses, and sea cucumbers this time. I really liked the short boat ride out.

After our dive, we left our gear to dry, and we headed back to Cathrdral Cove via Stingray Bay. The hike was nice and the beach was beautiful. We then took the less traveled road back through Puriri Grove and hurried off to Hot Water Beach.

At Hot Water Beach, I dug a hole for myself and sat in the sand. The beach was great fun, and I really liked it. The water was actually really hot! In some places, it was even too hot! We got hungry though and made our way back to have dinner at The Fire Place for very interesting wood stove cooked pizza.

Definitely one of my favorite days, and I think, uniquely New Zealand.

Note: Chicken chips really aren't great, unless you like eating packets of ramen noodle spices dry on a chip.