After getting back from Great Barrier, we spent a couple days in Auckland to pick up more supplies, then headed straight across the north island to the central west coast.
The west is very different from the eastern beaches, the prevailing wind is from the west, so the seas are always rough, with bigger, more violent waves, rips, and strong winds; so it's rarely swimmable. However, its what you would call rugged, and very scenic. One big feature is black sand beaches, caused by underwater lava flows off the coast. The sea erodes the lava rocks and washes up iron-rich slate-black sand. It looks like soil from a distance, but up close its fine powdery sand, and sticks to a magnet.
We started in the small friendly town of Kawhia, which is close to a small hot-water beach. There is an underground hot spring, so if you dig a hole in the sand in the right area, it fills in with hot water and you have your own hot tub! Its hard to get it deep enough though.
This beach also had Tuatuas, a type of clam similar to cockles- we grabbed a small bag for dinner. They are excellent, better than mussels.
On the road further south there is a road west of Waitomo that is packed full of natural attractions- on a stretch of about 15 km we found a natural bridge, a cave, and a nice waterfall.
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