Awoke early once again and took our time getting ready for the day. Breakfast was cereal with fresh fruit and toast with a nice cuppa! Mike and I walked into the thriving metropolis of Pauanui (pop. 2500?) to pick up the newspaper and stretch our legs. We piled in the Bearman’s Isuzu and started off to do a little sightseeing on the eastern shore of the Coromandel Peninsula. The eastern shore is absolutely spectacular with pristine beaches and hidden coves. Our first stop was Hot Water Beach that has hot volcanic water that fills holes dug in the sand within two hours of low tide. While we missed the time slot you could see the depressions where people had enjoyed the phenomenon of hot water mixing with the relatively cool Pacific Ocean. We climbed back in the Isuzu and made our way north to our next stop at Hahei beach. We then proceeded north to Cathedral Cove that is accessed by hiking about 3 km’s in native bush down to this beautiful hidden cove. Mary and I swam for about an hour and finished with a fresh water shower standing under a waterfall that cascaded off the cliff from about 15 meters up the rock face. We all walked along the beach for about 100 meters and walked through the arch that give the cove its name. The solid rock arch has been cut out by the ocean and stands about 25 meters high and about the same width. It feels like standing in a natural church. Back we went up the track to the car and made our way to Mercury Bay and a quick ferry ride of about 2 minutes to arrive on the opposite side of the small bay and had a great lunch of thin crust pizza and finished off by the obligatory flat white coffee. We arrived back at Mike and Judy’s and had a delicious dinner on the deck with yummy NZ winesssss. Off to bed around 11 and quickly starting sawing logs for the balance of the night.
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