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Last weekend I had the pleasure of road tripping with Bri, Jess, Gretchen, and Ben to Hahei in the Coromandel Peninsula--just a few hour drive from Auckland. We rented a car and Jess and I headed over to Swanson after school to pick up the others. Other than getting stuck in some traffic (LOL Auckland traffic is the *literal worst, way worse than the US... since approximately 800 new cars hit the road every week in this area), the drive to Hahei was smooth sailing.
Some of us:
We got to Hahei around sunset and drove to the beach straightaway to watch it.
Another beautiful place to spend the weekend!
Friday night we arrived at the beach house (bach) we were staying at courtesy of one of the deputy principals at Swanson (THANK YOU). We had originally planned on camping for the weekend in the area, but after a heavy rain forecast, he offered it up to us--SUCH a kind thing to do! We cooked dinner together and relaxed.
Saturday morning we woke up to pouring rain. Jess made a great brunch for us and we headed to Hot Water Beach, just down the road from Hahei. Hot Water Beach has natural hot springs beneath the top layer of sand. It was SOOOO fun to dig down at low tide and make our own 'hot tub.' The water in some of the spots was so hot that it even burned Gretchen's finger--it was the real deal. Other than me forgetting my swimsuit at the house, which actually wasn't too bad, it was a perfect day. We left just as it started raining heavily at the beach after staying for around 3.5 hours!
Saturday night we made a delicious meal, complete with fresh lemonade from the lemon trees right outside our front windows (is this real life?). We hung out, laughed, talked, danced, listened to some good music (thanks, Ben) and had such a fun time. It was raining all night but there was an overhang off the porch so we could still sit outside and enjoy the warm weather!
Sunday morning we woke up and after a quick breakfast, we cleaned the house and left to hike to Cathedral Cove! :) I had no idea what it looked like (lack of planning has been my theme since arriving in NZ), but I was definitely not disappointed. After a 45 minute, BEAUTIFUL hike, we made it to the Cove.
The group for the weekend!:
A waterfall at the Cove... just NZ things.
The Cove was incredible!
Such beautiful views
Had to leave our mark (a B for both of us, lol)
A full view of it
:)
Happy, happy, happy.
Found a clear blob (there are many on a lot of beaches here!) from the ocean!
Sending some 'I miss you' messages to various people!
Every place I visit is better than the next. I'm so grateful for these New Zealand adventures and such great people to experience it with.