It was the most beautiful morning! We made coffee and let our rain flap dry in the sun (no rain on us but there was lots of dew). Long beach was pretty, but did not offer a lot of hiking, so we set forth to find a new camp. We could not drive to the very top of the peninsula because just past were we stayed the road is no longer paved (or sealed in kiwi) and the rain's have washed out some of the road. We were right by an alternative route that cut across the peninsula to Whitianga. The road was very steep again and took us over the moutains, again very intense narrow roads with hair pin turns, but great views! When we rolled into Whitianga (fit-ie-anga) it looked very fancy. There was a great bay with some very large sail boats and yachts. The main drag was very cute and held our first destination the I site (information.) The lady who worked this i site was having a bad day, she was not helpful, came off very rude, and left a bad taste in our mouths. This was surpassing since the other I sites have been so great and very valuable to us. A sweet kiwi woman observed this lady and said " Well I reckon she was not very helpful, you looking for a place to camp?" We said yes. Kiwi lady " You should head to hot beach, no freedom camping there, but there is a holiday park and the beach has thermal spring under it so you dig yourself a hot pool! It is quite unique and I would recommend it." We took her recommendation and decided that this is a must see and since it is still the off season it will not be to packed. After checking our wine levels we made an emergency stop at newworld market. We got the basics, wine, !0 liters of water, and some chocolate! All set to go. Walking back to the van with our bounty a male kiwi struk up a rather odd conversation with us. He was the trolly collector (shopping cart collector) a really nice older man. We exchanged some small talk, then somehow he says he worked the same job for 15 years and that he would rather be def than blind so he could see this beautiful country. He became our topic of conversation the rest of our car ride to hot beach. The holiday park included free hot shower (totally worth it to me) a kitchen with pots and pans to use, they also had coin washers and dryers for $3. Not bad! Once we found our spot we got our swim gear on grabbed some shovels and headed toward the beach to see how hot the beach really was. The thermal spring is only about a 50ft section, and only accessible when it is low tide. It was low tide for us, but there were already quite a few people with established hole's. Being a bit timid at first we dug a hole in nobody's way. It was warm at first but turned cold fast. Hmm? We found out that you have to be aggressive to find the hot water. Paul went on a scouting mission and I was on watch to poach someone else's pool. Paul found the perfect spot. He stumbled upon it by walking and when his foot hit this spot it instantly burned his feet. We dug our pool down from this little vent, but left a channel for the hot water to constantly flow into our pool! It was heaven. The water was very hot, hotter than we imagined. We soaked for a good two hours and enjoyed views of the ocean.
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