Kawhia Beach

We had such a fun time the first time we visited Kawhia Beach (a hot water beach) that we made another trip! It's quite a drive so we planned a trip to the temple on the same day. While Cody was inside the temple, I stayed out in the car with the kids and we read, played games on the iPad, and watched shows. The time passed quickly. Then we headed to a day in some warm water. Along the way, we found so many gorgeous spots so Cody stopped and took a few pics here and there with his drone. The weather was getting drizzly so we carried onto our final destination.

The kids enjoyed a few runs down the small sand dune on their boogie boards. Once we walked to the beach and found a good spot to start digging, the rain continued. It got heavier and heavier and it was getting cold! We only stayed for under an hour, but we still got to enjoy a bit of warm water. It was quite a mess cleaning up since it was muddy from the rain in the carpark and we were covered in black sand from the beach. But, that's all in the fun =)

Once we were clean and bundled, we headed for home with a few more stops along the way for droning and pictures. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we reached Hamilton just in time to catch the tail end of the annual Hot Air Balloon festival. We watched the fireworks show and escaped the crowds just as it ended. It was a fun way to end our long day.