Black Sand Beaches

One of the things I really wanted to see here was the Black Sand beaches (see the pictures on this link). I didn't really know what that meant, but it sounded fascinating. The New Zealand coastline is very dangerous. We were told there is no safe swimming here because of the terrible rip tides.

The entire beach isn't all black, like it sounds. Normal sand lines the beaches, but lying on top of the fine brown sand is a thin layer of black iron dust. The dust is made of volcanic ash and washes onto the shore from the tide. When the sun hits it, the sand warms up to an unbearable temperature. My friend took off her shoes and immediately burned the soles of her feet. The blisters there didn't heal for several days.