And we're off...

Today started my tour of the north island.

We left from Auckland, making a quick stop at mount Eden; which I have talked about before, its is a dormant volcano in the middle of the city. It is still owned by the Maori people, and they use it for cattle grazing... which leads us to...

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY: When calves are born on Mt. Eden, after they have been weened and are released from their stalls, they must make a very important decision. They must decide whether to turn right, or turn left. While this may seem trivial to some, WAIT there's more! You see, since they live out their lives on the side of a mountain, depending upon the direction they first turn onto the slope of the mountain will determine the direction they will go around the mountain for the rest of their life. If they turn left, their right legs will grow slightly longer to compensate for the slope of the mountain, and if they turn right, their left legs will grow longer to compensate. Kinda makes you glad that you're not a cow born on a mountain, eh?

From Auckland we headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula. Our end destinations for today were cathedral cove and hot water beach. Once we had arrived and settled in at the hostel, those of us who had elected to do so, headed down to the beach for some sea kayaking. From the beach at the hostel in Hahei (ha-he) we kayaked down the coast to cathedral cove. Cathedral cove is a limestone cliff face that has eroded away over the years due to the sea water, and is today two separate beaches with a huge limestone passageway connecting the two. It is really quite stunning, especially from the water. On the way to the cove, we passed through a marine reserve, and past a sheer limestone cliff that goes up what had to be 200 ft., all the way down to the water's edge.

Once we arrived at the cove, just off either of the beaches there is a huge limestone rock jutting out of the water that has been eaten away on the bottom by the sea water. It looks something like a huge mass of rock sitting atop a pedestal, that is how narrow the base was.

From there, we kayaked out from the coast a bit to Poikeke and Motueka islands. The whole trip was really stunning, but this par was really cool, there is a cave that goes through Poikeke island, and we kayaked through it! It was amazing.

After getting back to the shore, we hopped on the bus and went just down the road to hot water beach. This beach actually is what it says. You can dig a hole in the sand and it will actually fill with hot water, provided by the tectonic activity in the area. It works similar to a hot spring, just heating the ocean water already in the sand. Depending upon where you dug your hole, the water could be cold, or scalding. The difference between the two could be six inches. The whole experience is an exercise in finding just the right spot. If it gets too hot, just throw in a bucket of ocean water, and you're good to go. There was a mob of people there digging holes. But inevitably the activity is an exercise in futility, as all if this is done at low tide. At high tide, the ocean comes right up to the cliffs that are there, and all the holes are covered up.