With the help of jet-lag, we woke up early and headed out to one of the only places I demanded to see on this trip — the Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula. The weather wasn’t very cooperative and maintained a chilly drizzle all morning.
At first, I thought we were lost because we kept driving through the mountains, but finally, the hills parted and we could see the ocean beyond. It was a long hike from the car park down to the beach. Despite the rain, it was one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever taken. So much so I didn’t even mind the walking part. The rain and the overcast sky actually made everything seemed greener, if that’s possible.
On the way down, we found a little moss-covered “grotto” like area. It was either a place out of a fairy tale where the trees might come alive and the animals might start singing, or a place where I was going to slip and break an ankle and crack my head open. Yay for slip-resistant shoes. The camera made things a little brighter than it actually was, and really didn’t do it justice in mystery and romance. Three American guys on a bro-trip walked by and we helped each other take group photos and consoled each other on the newly elected leader of the US.
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| Captain Sam |
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| One last photo in front of a small waterfall – thanks American Photo Buddies |
There was no delaying it, the time had finally come for us to scuba dive. The dive master’s name was Josh who turned out to be a super cool dude. To protect ourselves from the cold, we each put on a long sleeve rash guard, a thick vest with hood, a full body 7mm thick wet suit, as well as booties and gloves. At this point, I could barely bend my arms and legs and had to waddle around like the Ralph kid from the Christmas Story. Still, I thought for sure I was going to freeze to death on Day 2 in New Zealand.
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| Dive Master Josh |
To my surprise, the layers actually worked to keep my body temperature survivable. Although, with each kick of the fins or stroke of the arms, cold water would fill in through my neck. If you had seen the videos Sam shot with the GoPro, you would see most of them were violently shaking because he was shivering uncontrollably. Later Josh told us the water never gets warmer than 65°F (18°C). Very different from the bathwater in the Gulf of Mexico.Maybe because the sun wasn’t out, everything was a little gloomy underwater and visibility wasn’t great. But it was still a lovely shade of aqua and we saw lots of aquatic life. Unlike the colorful corals and fishes we saw in Jamaica, this patch of the New Zealand coast was less vibrant and a bit more monochromatic. We saw schools of fish, a tailless stingray, and a weird skinny starfish. But my favorite by far was the purple jellyfish. It felt like petting bubble wrap. Unfortunately, I kept having trouble equalizing my right ear, so we couldn’t dive deeper… We said goodbye to the jellyfish and boarded the boat back to shore. We really started shaking on the ride as the wind picked up.
Since we couldn’t eat much before diving and the cold water exhausted much of our reservoirs of energy, we desperately needed to recharge after the dive. Yelp led us to Hot Waves Cafe, a little cafe near the Hot Water Beach (where you can dig a hole in the sand and naturally heated mineral water would seep up for you to soak in). Here we had the best lamb burger of our lives! We tried a couple of other lamb burgers during the rest of the trip, but none topped this one. I also ordered a very warming tea called Kawakawa Fire made with lemongrass and ginger. If you are ever in this area of the world, you MUST try this cafe!
At full bars again, we headed south to Hamilton for the night. A slightly soaked but fun-filled day. I was finally starting to see the draw of New Zealand.
Cheers,
C.