In Hot Water At Hot Water Beach, 2018

One of the quintessentially Kiwi places is Hot Water Beach, up on the Pacific side of the Coromandel peninsula. We visited in 2014 and got a sense of the thing. Just. This time we did it right, staying at the Top 10 campground (a shower afterward is pleasant), carrying a nice little shovel, timing the tide just right, being lucky, and doing it on a weekday when there were fewer people.

Approaching the little maybe 500 square feet area where, at low
tide, you dig your own personal hot tub; the South Island has
some thermal bits, but the North Island is loaded with them

We found a little hole someone had already begun, close to the surf,
and I had no sooner than begun to enlarge it (scalding water) when
the young couple just in front of us offered their already dug
and perfected pool, water not way too hot, with an unobstructed
view; they went for a swim and departed

Thus, an hour later; we are feeling pretty warm at this point
and the tide is beginning to come back in, breaching the side
of our pool...the cooler sea water feels pretty good

She stepped in front just as I was composing a really great
seascape photo

Vicki's only partially scalded legs

Can't say it's a really cool place, just one of the very best places