That feeling

It’s so easy to fall in love when the sun is shining. Everything is blessed. Beauty is all around. The sky becomes a faultless blend of blue silk that seems both infinitely distant and reassuringly close. The sea is a mirror for the sky’s emotions and is subdued by its tranquillity. The odd clouds that boldly dare to step to this stage draw new appreciation as their texture and shape is intensified by the spotlight upon them. Colours everywhere are renewed in vitality and everything looks sharper to the eye. The touch of the sun is positive and encouraging. Moments feel right.

We’d only just stepped from the car, and were already smitten with our surroundings. We felt at the edge of something magnificent and couldn’t wait to explore further. Who could believe we were only 2 hours from the centre of Auckland.

From our vantage point, high on the headland, we soaked in the view, surveyed the coastline, and look towards the day’s destiny. It seemed fitting that some effort was required to get somewhere so beautiful.

It took roughly forty minutes to walk there from the car park, crossing grassland and forest. The brief glimpses of our destination along the way spurred us on and helped avoid the temptation of nearer options. At the end of the path, we stepped from behind a curtain of branches, out of the dark, and onto the white sand of ‘Mares Leg Cove.’ Beauty flowed all around and our eyes drank thirstily.

Gorgeous blue water licked at soft powdery white cliffs, carving ornaments for our view, and bedding to lounge on. A small flat island lay twenty metres from shore, drawing people to its surface and then launching them back into the sea. On the left hand side of this small cove was a pointed archway of titanic proportions that led through the rock to ‘Cathedral Cove’. Beyond the entrance, the cave opened up to a huge curved ceiling that commanded awe, and inspired the name for this iconic location. Many people had made the pilgrimage here today, but none of them could detract from the peaceful feeling. This place was exotic, beautiful, and felt like a completely different country. It was as if we stepped through a portal onto another island far away in the south pacific. We reclined onto the sheets of sand and only left there when the sun’s attention had resulted in an obvious blush to our cheeks.

In the evening, we made our way to a nearby beach for a nice relaxing hot soak to finish off our stressful day. The appropriately named, ‘Hot Water Beach’ is unique and famous around the world thanks to an underground volcano, and the fissures from it’s superheated reservoir that lead to a small area of shoreline. These fissures supply approximately 15 litres a minute of mineral rich water to the surface, at temperatures of up to 64 degrees Celsius. Anyone armed with a spade and the desire, is then free to dig their own spa pool.

We’d arrived slightly early so our initial attempts at construction were thwarted by the still lowering tide. Thankfully, we were not alone in this venture, so we combined forces and constructed a defensive wall. We were then free to build dividing walls and shape the interior. There are blatant problems with the constructive durability of sand, and especially so when the majority of the structure is below water, so we dug deep, and then filled the gaps with our own bodies before the sand could.

When prompted with the notion of digging your own spa pool, the last thing you’d think of including is a crowd of people around you. Try as we might, we couldn’t ignore them, so only stayed long enough to let the exertion of digging the spa wear off. Perhaps if we’d brought along a few cold beers, our patience would have been more enduring.


The next day we tried our luck at fishing again. First in the shallows in-front of the hostel, then once the tide had come in, we continued our efforts from the wharf. After lunch, we drove to ‘Paku Hill’ and climbed to the summit. Like so many hills of New Zealand, this is the remnants of a volcanic cone that now provides an awesome viewpoint and a reminder of the country’s makings.

That evening we dined on the catch of the day. Totally at over 100 pounds, there was enough for everyone, and plenty left for the freezer. There truly is nothing like eating fresh fish after a morning spent fishing, even if we didn’t actually catch it. Our timing of being here coincided with a fishing competition, in which the hostel owner was a successful participant. He took the best of the catch, left the rest to the masses, and in one flippant gesture, made this one of our favourite hostels.

On the last day of this long weekend, we spent the morning at ‘Pauanui’ beach, before venturing off to find a secret water hole located in ‘Broken Hills’. A friend from work has previously drawn me an elaborate map of how to find it, and now all we needed was a little adventure spirit. It was the chance to discover a piece of New Zealand, not found in any guide book, and only known about by the locals. Quite a few locals as it turned out. Our secret location was privy to at least 10 others when we arrived, and once again, the romanticism was lost. Perhaps, we’ll be lucky and alone when we next visit.