In May 2004 I worked for a week in Auckland, NZ, during which it rained for most of the time. I had the weekend off and at first considered driving up to the Bay of Islands, but as the weather was fairly poor and the drive a bit long, I was advised to visit Cathedral Bay at Coramandel, where the weather is almost always good. I'm glad I did!
I left fairly late on Saturday, as it was still raining until mid afternoon. I drove south from Auckland around Thames Bay (See Pics here), finally driving into Hahei after dark.

The next morning I got up early and took pictures of the sun coming up on Hahei Beach (see below). I had considered taking a kayak tour which went to the islands you can see, then onto Cathedral Bay, but the operator was unsure if he was going due to the poor weather that had been around lately.

After sunrise I went back to bed for a bit (I'd rented a nice sea shack in Hahei) then checked out and went to Hotwater Beach. This place was one of the most unique beaches I have ever visited, and I've seen a few now!
Basically a section of the beach just above the low tide line sits atop a volcanically heated reservoir of water that leaks out of the sand. If you dig a small hole it will quickly become filled with steaming hot water.
As the spring is near the low tide line, it is only accessible around one hour either side of low tide, the rest of the time it is covered by the ocean.

Most visitors to the beach bring a small shovel and dig a little spa close to the waterline. I went for a surf in the very chilly 13°C ocean then quickly stripped off my wetsuit and jumped shivering into the closest steaming water hole I could find. I tell ya... I wish we had this set up down in Melbourne.. it would have made surfing in winter time alot more fun...

After Hotwater beach I drove back to Hahei and walked along the coastal track to Cathedral Bay, which was about a 45 minute trip.
Cathedral bay is featured prominentlyin New Zealand tourist brochures, and with good reason. The bay is actually two bays, seperated by a large sea cave. The first bay is the nicest, it even includes a small waterfall in the top corner. The sea cave is about fifty metres deep, see picture below, and gives a clue to how the stone cathedrals were formed.. they themselves are all that remains of older sea caves that have since erroded away.