Today we experienced another of NZ's volcanic attractions: Hot Water Beach. Here's how it works: You wait till low tide, grab a shovel, head to the beach, dig yourself a big hole near the water's edge and voila! Your very own natural spa. It works because, again, the hot melty innards of the earth are a little closer to the surface there.Well, OK ... first of all, everybody was very impatient and had already started digging when we got there, nearly two hours before the lowest of low tide. So we dug in, too, until we realized it wasn't going to get any hotter, and took a break till the water receded some more. Wouldn't you know it, though, as we retreated to our towels to relax a while, every johnny-come-lately would walk up to our hole, stand in it for a minute, and nod their heads to their friends as if to say "No, this one's not hot either." Dude, there's about a hundred holes with no people in them, and about two hundred people here -- did you really think we all had too good a time relaxing in our hand-dug spas that we gave them up for you to use? One older guy with too-skimpy swim togs (they call them "togs" there) even took our shovel and started digging himself his own hole.
What we figured out was that the part that gets real hot is pretty far out. When we were standing in water halfway up our legs and our feet started sinking in to the sand it would get really hot on your feet. Like, super hot. By the time we figured that out we had bored of the hot water beach and headed back to the bach to eat, relax and pack up.
We left Jen around 5:30 -- she needed to stay there by herself another night to wait for her car to be ready Monday -- and headed to Auckland.
I don't think I've talked about the roads in New Zealand yet. Ah, the roads. They drive on "the other side," all the roads are two-lane roads with perpetual passing zones, and because there are lots and lots of mountains to drive up and over, they tell you what your recomm
ended speed should be on every curve. We even saw some that said 15. That's 15 kilometers per hour. Or, basically, "go very, very slow around this curve."(The last big road trip I went on was also with Leah, when we went to California for Dulce's wedding in Big Sur and drove a big chunk of the Pacific Coast Highway. They also have a Pacific Coast Highway in New Zealand, and it's actually a lot like the one in California, only even more treacherous, and with the ocean on the other side. We joked that we'll only travel with each other if there's a Pacific Coast Highway nearby.)
Another thing about the roads is one of the great New Zealand ideas: one-lane bridges. They obviously us
e less steel and other materials, and if the road is not a highly-traveled one, it seems a good solution. They have these road signs with two arrows pointing in opposing directions, and if the arrow representing your direction of travel is highlighted, it means you have the right of way and the other guy has to wait till you complete your bridge passage.The four of us had dinner outdoors at a nice restaurant in Auckland's waterfront area, ordered a bottle of Craggy Range and toasted Jen and her hospitality, and the good fortune we all have to have a good friend living in New Zealand. Cheers!
