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| Mercury Bay Hahei |
We left Auckland at 9.45 am and made
our way to Hahei on the famous Coromandel Coast. We reached our destination at
1215 h – a drive of 175 Km. The drive is extremely captivating taking us
through endless mountains and valleys. The surroundings keep you enthralled throughout.
Most of the time is spent in photography and viewing. As one rounds ‘Firth of
Thames’ the vegetation becomes even more dense and interesting. The drive is
extremely lonely with very few cars on road ,no signs of any habitation outside
of cities and villages, no human beings to be seen anywhere and definitely no
animals.
The driver should be very alert at
all times. To break monotony it’s good to pull over and take a photo break – it
helps.
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| The landscape |
We checked into "Hahei Holiday Resort".
It is a very well appointed resort - extremely clean and comfortable. The
facilities include a barbecue pit, free laundry, fully equipped kitchenette and
a small restaurant. The cottage we stayed in was extremely well equipped – down
to a can opener and corkscrew! It had wooden floors and a verandah to die for! The
place is huge and accommodates camper vans and tents. One can walk across to Hahei
beach behind the resort.
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| Naveen at the entrance to the resort |
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| Jai absorbing Hahei |
Hahei is derived from the Māori name
for Mercury Bay, Te-Whanganui-A-Hei, or "The Great Bay of Hei". Its
resident population is around 300 and it is home to the world famous ‘Cathedral
Cove’ and a hot water beach. The village itself is very small with one all
purpose store, a single petrol bunk, a few restaurants and resorts for tourists.
Two of us wanted to stay a little longer in Hahei than planned while the other
two wanted to come back and settle down for good. That was the impact of this cute
little village.
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| The Gang |
Starting with Hahei we took a special
liking to Kiwi ice cream in a very big way. Their ice cream is quite rich and creamy.
The helpings are awesome and the flavors are mind blowing.
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| Some Ice Cream Cone |
The store keeper was very helpful and
went out of her way to book us for a speed boat ride to visit the coves.
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| Getting ready for the ride |
The Coxswain and the guide told us
that Captain Cook landed on the beach that now takes his name in November 1769,
to watch Mercury (hence the Bay’s name) cross the sun. After some astronomical
calculations Cook worked out the latitude and longitude, putting New Zealand on
a map.
No wonder people from all over the
world come to Hahei to unwind and enjoy – it offers unlimited outdoor
activities such as kayaking, scuba diving, surfing, trekking and living in the
wild. We ended the day with a glass of chilled beer and a delectable lunch.
Hahei resort observes ‘Quiet Time’
between 10.30 PM to 7.30 AM during which time there should be no noise and no
music.
The next morning was spent lazing
around the ’Hot Water Beach’. Some volcanoes develop huge underground
reservoirs of super heated water. Over time, this water escapes to the surface —
cooling on the way. There are two fissures at Hot Water Beach issuing water as
hot as 64ºC (147ºF) at a rate as high as 15 liters/minute. This water contains
large amounts of salt, calcium, magnesium, potassium, fluorine, bromine and
silica. The hot spring starts one hour before the low tide and lasts one hour
after the change. We reached the beach at 1000 h sharp as the low tide for the
day was at 1100h.
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| A tiny bubble of hot water escaping from the sand |
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Jai with a shovel all set
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The whole exercise was to dig a pool
sufficiently large to accommodate the four of us to lie down in the sand where
the hot water wells up. The hot water is to be found only at two spot on the
beach. Everyone heads for it an hour before low tide. The hot water from the
spring mixes with the tidal wave making it hot enough to lie down and laze. One
can see the steam rising up from the sand where the water is really hot. The
atmosphere on the beach immediately transforms you into a child. Four of us
went into a frenzy to dig a hole for ourselves to bathe in this unique volcanic
hot water. The spring water by itself is extremely hot and unbearable to touch.
One has to be careful to avoid getting the soles of the feet burnt. As the tide
rises, the cold waves of the sea engulf the area so one can only sit for those
two hours or so.
Naveen refused to leave the pool and
continued to remain in the spa for two hours.
It was indeed a novel experience.
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| Totally agree with the notice |
Very reluctantly we departed from
Hahei next morning, carrying with us loads of wonderful memories of this charming
little seaside village.
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