hahei, raglan

first stop on our grand tour of NZ was Mt Eden, a volcano in auckland with beautiful views, and then onto Hahei. Hahei was very cool for 2 reasons, 1 - a beautiful hike up to Cathedral Cove, and 2 - Hot Water Beach. hot water beach is a beach sitting on magma, so at certain spots on the beach if you got at low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand (with spades, BYO or rented) which will fill up with tepid, warm, or hot water. in one case, the water was literally boiling. i chose a warm spot and sat myself down in the sand - very cool (well, hot - you know what i mean). then it was onto raglan, surf capital of NZ and home of the longest left hand break in the world (not that i know what that means, but apparently its impressive). the beach was nice (i passed on surfing to get in some good sitting on the beach time) but what was really impressive was the incredible hostel we were at. i wouldnt even call it a hostel, because it was the lodging for the raglan surf school, and there was so much love put into this little eco paradise it just doesnt seem right to call it a hostel. i thought about staying longer but decided it was onto bigger and better things, lest i get stuck in the relaxing world of beach paradise forever.