Epic New Zealand Road Trip - Karangahake and Hot Water Beach

Feb 16th & 17th
The kitchen provided us with cereals, bread, and coffee for breakfast. We ate and took it easy before checking out. We decided to skip the Hobbiton and went for a Windows Walk hike at Karangahake Gorge.

After the walk, we went across the street for lunch at a picturesque setting where we saw a 20-million-year-old petrified tree from Indonesia. We shared desserts and it was hard to pick among the many delicious-looking choices, but we managed. 

We drove on to Hot Water Beach in Hahei, our last stay in New Zealand, about three hours away. We checked in, rented a shovel, and took a bus to town where we began our walk to Cathedral Cove. Liên and I went into the water and that felt very good because the weather was hot. Even though we were short on time to catch the last bus, we made sure to stop at both Stingray Bay and Gemstone Bay on our way back. We didn’t miss the bus. 

We had the most ordinary dinner of all dinners we had in New Zealand: fish and chips. Then we set out for the Hot Water Beach two hours before low tide. We were lucky because we found an empty dug-out spot that was big enough for the four of us. We lay down side by side and enjoyed the hot water coming up from underneath. We used our shovel now and then to dig deeper and get more warm water. What surprised us was that the water temperature can vary quite a bit depending on where you sit. Water could be comfortable in one spot, and yet a bit too warm if we moved one body over. We lay in our “hot tub” and enjoyed listening to the waves while looking up at the stars and moon. 

We regretted having to leave, but we had to go eventually. In the morning when we dropped Debbie off at the office to check out, we talked about leaving her there and driving off to the airport without her, because she was sad about ending the vacation and leaving New Zealand. But that didn’t happen. All of us made it to the airport to return the car and fly out. The four of us split up into three flights. When Debbie and I got to LAX, we had to get our luggage to go through customs. At that point, we decided to keep our luggage with us. When we got to our home airport, I got a message from American Airlines telling me that our luggage was delayed. But that didn’t matter. We had made the right decision.