Dig your own hottub at Hot Water Beach

Craziest experience in NZ - hot water bathing on the beach in the middle of the winter (well - autumn anyway)!

There's a very small patch of beach (about 20m across) where hot water bubbles up under the sand at low tide. Everyone appears out of nowhere to cluster together in this tiny little area and starts digging! Dig two feet in the wrong direction, and it's cold, two feet the other way and you're cooking your toes - gotta get it just right!

We arrived a bit late to the party and only managed to find a cooler spot on the beach. The kids got their big eyes out, and several neighbours soon headed off leaving us cool, warm and freaking hot pools to mix.

We stuck it out with the die-hards until the tide came in and the cold water swamped our bathing pools, and then that was enough of that!Read more