Cathedral Cove

Holiday backblip- New Zealand- Day 9

Another gorgeous sunny day perfect for going to the 2 beaches we planned. The first was Cathedral Cove where there's this big arch through the cliffs. It's about a 40 min walk from the road so doesn't get too busy (although saying that, none of the beaches we went to were busy at all) even though it is quite small. It's a secluded cove at the bottom of a cliff and is just beautiful. The sea is quite rough with big waves but that didn't put Cameron off! Andrew played in the sea a bit but was happier running round the beach and in and out of a freshwater 'shower' that poured down from the cliff top.

We could have stayed there all day but had to leave at lunchtime to get to the next beach as we had to be there within a couple of hours of low tide. Hot Water Beach has hot springs that come up through the sand. You dig a hole, get the right mix of hot spring water (which comes up at 65C!) and sea water and sit back and relax! It is so surreal, the beach is huge but then there's loads of people crammed into this small area sitting around in these shallow pools which are steaming away. We had fun digging and relaxing in our pool although Andrew and I both scalded our feet and had to jump in the sea!

We then went back to the campsite and surprise, surprise the boys were back in the sea! This time they both went in naked and ran in and out of the water until it got dark. And yes I do have photographic evidence to bring out at their 18th birthday parties!