The day of my tour finally arrived and Drew was so kind to drop me off in the city where the Kiwi Experience (KE) bus picked us up. It is quite a large group of 34 people compared to my first tour, everyone around my age, even though I have the feeling that most people are younger than me. Some just finished university and decided to travel for a few months before looking for a job or start university next year.
Most of them are from the UK and Ireland, some from Denmark/Sweden and just one other German who doesn’t talk to me for some weird reason.
As soon as we arrived we checked into the Hot Water Beaches Holiday Park, a very pleasant bungalow park, clean and nice staff, however with $30 a night a bit expensive.
We drove back to our accommodation and prepared dinner, well the others did. After such an exhausting walk and swim I told myself I deserve some chips. I shouldn’t have done it and promised myself after seeing the pictures of me in a swimming suit my eating behavior need to change ASAP. I am officially on a diet (urgh).
I took a little nap and got ready around 11 pm to check out the hot water beach, which is only accessible during low tide and this was only in the evening. When we arrived a few people digged already a hole and were sitting in the hot water mixed with cold sea water. The water was really hot and you could burn yourself if you are not careful. I decided not to swim in the little holes and went after a while back to the accommodation, such a shame that this wasn’t possible during day time.
Most of them are from the UK and Ireland, some from Denmark/Sweden and just one other German who doesn’t talk to me for some weird reason.
When I took place in the bus (a bit nerdy sitting in the front) another girl took the seat next to me. We talked a bit until we stopped at the KE Office for some paperwork, suddenly when we went for our first stop she was sitting in the back of the bus. I might have had a bad day.
Our first stop of the day was Mount Eden and I was happy that I went the other day already because it had started to rain again and the view was not very nice.
This was followed by a quick instruction how the KE operates and what we need to do over the coming days. I booked only the transport (very cheap) around the Island, no activities included which means I have to pay for it whenever I decide to do something.
We finally started to head off to the Hot water beaches where we would spend the night. We did a quick stop at a supermarket to buy our breakfast/lunch/dinner. I have to admit that after months of living in food luxury it will be hard again to go back to the backpacker diet of noodles and rice.
This was followed by a visit to the Cathedral Cove. It was just a 40 minute walk down to the beach and I was brave enough to change into my swimming suit and jump into the cold and freezing sea. I was thinking I will get a heart attack. I did swim to a little stone close to the beach and jumped off from there. After seeing the pictures of me I had an even greater shock…..but later more to that.
We walked back uphill to the car park and I wished I could go back again and cool off. All in all a very pleasant walk and a nice scenery.
First day finished 19 to follow. Happy Travels :)
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