Hot Water Beach

HOT WATER BEACH, New Zealand- I had no idea that hot water beaches existed. I had no idea that there were beaches that you could go to, dig a shallow pit in the sand, and then bathe in the thermally heated water that flows into it. Apparently, there are thermal vents or something below the surface that heats up the water that permeates through the sand.

It’s refreshing to know that after 18 years of travel there are still things out there that I am completely ignorant of. You can’t travel the world.

There’s a hot water beach on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand. They named it Hot Water Beach.

We went there armed with an empty pickle jar and started digging some holes. But we soon abandoned this quest when it became apparent that we could just jump into the bigger, better holes that other people were digging with shovels.

We sat in this interconnected complex of pools that various groups of tourists worked on in partnership and soaked in the hot water. Every once in a while you would roll over into a spot that was a little hotter and scald yourself. We laughed, relaxed, talked over and over about how cool it was, blah, blah … The place really hit the recreational travel spot dead on.

Here are some photos: