Hot Water Bay & Cathedral Cove

Today we went to Hot Water Beach. And It really does have hot water! Totally bonkers! If you dig into the sand, the hole fills up with volcanically heated spring water! Dig your own hot-tub beach! At dusk you could see steam rising off the beach and some of the pools that we dug filled up with water so hot that you couldn't put your fingers in it!

There were bugs galore at the campsite and they seemed to take great delight in providing me with itchy bites, so we started the day with a swift striking of camp, followed by an exit through the ford and down to the beach.

Had a quick surf and shower to wake up, then after topping up supplies of food and fuel drove north to 'Hot Water Beach'. Sadly, there was no surf and the sea was flat, but the views made up for it. After some food, we called into a cafe to ask about camping options. It's forbidden to freedom camp here, but Clare found a small sign on a notice board offering a quiet eco-campsite on a nearby guys land. Following directions from the cafe owner, we soon found ourselves in a secluded ranch, behind some sandunes talking to Dixi, the owner of 'The Good Earth'. He provided us with a flat spot of grass and some tree shade where we pitched the tent before setting off for a spot of afternoon snorkelling.

We used 'the secret' to locate a car parking spot above Cathedral Cove, then walked the short distance down to Gemstone Bay, which had been recommended as a good snorkelling spot. Feeling brave (and not wanting to carry much) we left our wetsuits behind and hiked down to the cove. There wasn't much to see (underwater) at first, but as we swam further out, we began to see quite a few fish. Just as we'd decided to head back to shore a huge fish swam over and  gave us quite a scare! It was a whopper - just less than half a meter long and really fat. We swam pretty fast back to shore!

We dried off instantly in the sun, then continued our coastal walk along to 'Cathedral Cove'. It's a pretty famous area and for those not wanting to walk there are lots of water taxis from the neaby town. Subsequently, we arrived from the forest trek to find hundreds of people on the beach! There were some impressive geological formations, with a huge arch and some big sea stacks.

All this sightseeing was beginning to take its toll and on arriving back at hot water beach, we took a siesta before venturing out onto the sand to dig ourselves a thermally heated hot tub, where we stayed until our fingers wrinkled and the tide began to come in.

Just before it got dark, we had dinner (again by the sea side) before driving camp to Dixi's place for a very quiet nights sleep.