On Day 55, we left Rotorua. We’ve had an amazing time in this bizarre volcanic town. Though it didn’t feel as pristine and unspoiled as some of the places we visited on the South Island, the activities were unique and world-class.

Our next stop was Whitianga, a small town on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. The drive took us about 4 hours, and we arrived just before dark — house number 14 since we left Maryland.

Our plan for the day was to check out some of the natural beauty of the area, starting with a short hike to Cathedral Cove. The walk started along the cliffs above the water, giving us views to some of the off-shore rock formations.

After about 20 minutes, the trail headed down to the beach, where we found the arch that makes the beach famous. (It was prominently featured in one of the Narnia movies.)

After admiring the huge arch, we passed on through to the other side.

The passageway is underwater at high tide, so we had timed our walk to be sure we could walk through. As we emerged, we could see Te Hoho rock, a huge limestone stack rising from the beach.

The archway we walked through and Te Hoho show two stages of the evolution of the coastline in this area. Ocean water wears through a tunnel, which eventually collapses, leaving a towering stone stack. Of course, those erosive forces don’t stop once the tunnel collapses. Te Hoho’s days may yet be many but they are certainly numbered. In fact, from another angle we could see how much the rock was leaning. It may be coming down sooner rather than later, at least geologically speaking.

From here, we explored a bit more of the beach. Julie found some driftwood that she’d like to bring home.

We then passed back through the arch, where we found other rocks in the water, the remnants of previous arches and tunnels. This smaller one perhaps gave us some idea of what Te Hoho will look like when it breaks off.

Further down the beach, Lydie and Cassie found a small partial cave.

The cave only went back into the cliff for about 30 feet. Maybe someday this will be another arch.

Our next stop was Hot Water Beach, which earned its name from the hot springs percolate through the sand just below the surface. We parked the car and found a place to rent a shovel. Properly armed, we headed down the beach looking for a good spot to dig a hole. Along the way, we saw a few Portuguese man o’ wars. Men o’ wars?

It was pretty easy to spot a good place to dig, as quite a few other tourists and some locals were already relaxing in small pools. We found a recently dug pool and got to work expanding it.

I wasn’t sure that Hot Water Beach was really going to be hot enough to enjoy. It was mid-50s, and the ocean water we’d walked through on the way was quite chilly. Our previous hot spring experience at Kerosene Creek was more lukewarm than hot. It turned out that we had the opposite problem. The water coming up through the ground was incredibly hot!

It was so hot that you had to be careful where you stood. In one pool, it was actually bubbling.

We spent a few minutes wading in the hot pools. Lydie and I had fun going between the icy ocean and the hot springs. As the sun started to set, we decided we’d had our fill. We headed back to the car, washed off our feet, and turned in our shovel. Another great day in NZ!

-Will