Only a few miles away from Cathedral Cove is Hot Water Beach, a place that is both quintessentially and uniquely Kiwi. A thermal vent heats water that then bubbles up into the sand at low tide. You dig a properly located hole in the beach's gray sand, and, voila! your own hot tub! The tubs, so to speak, can be any size, just solo, or several of your friends. The trick is proper location. The hot water is
really hot, scalding hot, so you want to be adjacent to the vent area--there were only two the afternoon we were there--close enough to get some heat, but not close enough to get burnt. Too far away and you're just sitting in beach water and sand. Ick. Further, you need to construct your tub so that it can withstand errant incoming waves. We saw many fine tubs breached and demolished by the waves. Then you have to dig a new one. (Local vendors rent little spades). Further, understand you are not the only person there. You are one of hundreds, even on a week-day in the off-season. It's quintessentially Kiwi, and the population center of the nation is just a couple hours away. See illustrations.
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| Hot Water Beach, an hour before low tide, on a slow day |
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| The first people there, I suppose, have to dig several trial holes to find the right spots |
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| While Vicki looked for a spot, I documented the event |
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One of the hot streams; notice no one is standing in it; nearly boiling I would
guess |
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| Closer up |
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A perfect specimen...but on closer examination, you see the steam and bubbles
rising and notice no one is within even six feet of this hole |
We nosed around for a while; a nice man from Worcestershire offered to share his tub (he'd been to Yellowstone) but before we could say thanks, an errant wave destroyed his creation. We noticed further that there were no beach showers nearby, that one gets really covered in grey sand and muck doing this, that the prospect of getting scalded was significant, that fighting the waves and tides was pretty futile, and, most importantly, that we had neglected to wear swimsuits and bring a shovel. We also remembered that we had spent the past two evenings soaking in crystal clear and clean thermal waters, without risk nor toil nor degradation, and maybe that was good enough. We took our pictures and proceeded on.
