Beaches in Waikato
2 beaches · 2 beach worlds
The New Zealand region holding the Coromandel Peninsula, where volcanic geology produces two beaches within twenty minutes of each other that are unlike anything else in the register, and both require timing rather than effort. At Hot Water Beach geothermal water rises through the sand and people dig their own pools for two hours either side of low tide; outside that window the beach is unremarkable and the water is too hot to stand on in places. At Cathedral Cove a natural arch cut through soft welded ash joins two beaches, reachable only on foot or by boat, and its path was taken away by Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 and closed for two years. Both sit on an actively eroding volcanic coast where rockfall is a genuine hazard and sections are fenced off as a result. Hot Water Beach has one of the higher rescue counts in New Zealand, because people concentrate on the pools and swim without watching the water, and there is a rip directly off the hot section. The peninsula also holds the Karangahake gold workings and a good deal of kauri forest. Practically: the region is two hours from Auckland, the tide table decides the day, and summer weekends fill the single road in.
The two are different kinds of shore. Together they account for 1.2 km of shore. · computed from the 2 records below
