Making hot pools at the famous Hot Water Beach
5 min read
We stay the weekend at Auntie Dawns Place in Hot Water Beach, Coromandel with my visiting mother. We immersed ourselves in the quintessential Kiwi experience by creating natural hot pools during low tide. The kids and I went on a dangerous hike with our Airbnb host and fed some 100-year-old+ eels in their stream.
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Auntie Dawns Place
We arrived late afternoon to Hot Water Beach. and checked in to our Airbnb for the night, a beautiful little bach called Auntie Dawns Place. It’s just a 5 min walk to the beach and there are two apartments that merge into one (like for our family). There are also camping areas on the property for both camper vans and tent campers.
Warren, our host, greeted us shortly after we arrived. He showed us where we could borrow shovels to dig our pool tomorrow and the breakfast foods he’d left for us. His cute older dog followed us around, the kids loved him. He invited us and a few other new arrivals for the evening to come down to a stream that runs through the property to feed what he said would be 100-year-old eels!
They were massive. He brought dog food to feed and draw them all out by the main pool but also dropped some at a little bridge and we got see one slither all the way up the stream after it smelled it.
The kids really enjoyed when he let them have the rest of the food and have at it feeding the eels. His only caution was that if we slipped and fell in, there is a good chance they could take off one of our toes!
We went to the famous hot water beach that evening at low tide but it was in the middle of a wind advisory and sand pelted us on all sides. It stung pretty bad! We called it quits and decided to try again early next morning.
Morning adventure at Hot Water Beach
Leslie and I set an alarm early the next morning around 6 AM. We left my mom asleep with the kids and snuck down to watch the sunrise at the beach. It was a gorgeous morning.
The low tide was at 8 AM, but there were already several groups on the beach digging their pools. We ran back and, after eating a quick breakfast, I grabbed the two older kids and we headed back to claim our spot and get it ready for the babies and my mom.
Armed with shovels provided by our accommodation, we dug into the sand to create a few different pools. Hot Water Beach lives up to its name, courtesy of the underground hot springs that filter up through the sand between the high and low water tidal reaches. Balancing the temperature proved a challenge, as some spots were scalding hot, 140°F+. I ended up making a really hot pool while the kids made a pools below it and filled it with sea water with buckets. I started a slow trickle from the top and we got the lower pool just the right temperature.
Once everybody had showed up, we traded keeping watch over the pool (lots of people there by now), and cooling off in the ocean.
Leslie, I, and our oldest daughter got some snorkeling in by a larger rock with a few little coral reefs. I even got my mom out past waist deep water to use just the goggles to look under at the fish.
The Mountain Awaits
Refreshed and invigorated from our beach spa experience, we headed back for lunch. Warren had mentioned he could take the older kids and I on a mountain hike that promised panoramic views, but we hadn’t anticipated the level of adrenaline it would include.
It started at the hot water beach, but instead of going around the rocks, you go left through a sea cave.
With a rope as our guide and our host leading the way, we embarked on a steep ascent. The climb was challenging, especially for the older kids and myself, but Warren scrambled right up. he would toss the rope back down for us to ascend.
Reaching the top felt like a considerable achievement, and any exhaustion we felt vanished the moment we took in the view.
The climb back down was easy as we went through a beautiful meadow and back down to a nearby road.
We ate a classic dinner of burgers, fries, and nuggets at a diner in the nearby town of Hahei, and topped it off with some ice cream. With the low tide once again at hot water beach, we went back to go exploring the tide pools on the southern end of the beach.
We found quite a few tiny fish and some egret-like birds trying to catch them.
The sunset was beautiful that night, and we just stayed around enjoying the beautiful beach until dusk settled.