Kawhia

was only a couple of weeks ago. If you want to soak in the hot water you need to be there a couple of hours before low tide. We were late which turned out to be a bonus as everyone else had left and we had the place to ourselves, the water was burning hot and wonderful.
Handy tip: dont wear your best clothes..the smell of sulphur does not always come out.
Take a shovel and a bucket.

My Dad’s father lived in Kawhia as a child and went to school there, between about 1906 and 1914. His father was also the local chemist at that time. So, since my Dad had never really been there, we decided to suprise him with a day trip to Kawhia, complete with picnic (we aren’t really a picnic kind of family—it was the first time the picnic set had been used EVER) for Father’s Day.

We even enlisted the help of my Aunt, the family genealogist, to provide some info about the town and when they had been there. We were lucky enough that the museum was open, and there were photos and newspaper articles that referred to the family (although no photos of the people themselves that we could make out)

All in all it was a great day. It’s a beautiful, rugged, isolated place although much bigger than we expected. I can also recommend the fish and chip shop, the hot chips were FANTASTIC. Crunchy on the outside and lovely and fluffy inside.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend the road to Raglan though unless you are into rally driving. It was very rough and there were lots of slips and some car repairs were needed along the way!