Waitomo

view of the countryside
one of the less steep hills
me avec bike
bikes
me with my lovely oversuit and helmet
another shot of the view
bikes
grumpy

View of one of the bridges on the walk
Track we followed
River
One of the larger bridges
River

duck!
Tunnels
from the top of the trail
On the way back

Well after leaving stinkyville we head to Waitomo. Waitomo is a very small town (only has a small shop in the centre). Waitomo is famous for the limestone caves which have glowworms littering the ceiling of the caves. I signed up for a few activities today. I got the Combo deal as it's called. It included Blackwater rafting and a go at Quad biking!!! (all for 60 quid!!).

Our first stop on the coach today is to a Redwood forest. I didn't have an opportunity to walk around as I had contact lens drama and so i feared I would get lost!! We then headed for another park with a walk that takes you around a gorge and through some old railway tunnels. There were some small bridges across the river. These were really shaky and after a while you started to feel a bit sick. Nice. We views were really good and it was a good experience walking through the pitch black caves.

After a couple of hours on the coach we eventually got to Waitomo. I was really pleased with the hostel as it was brand new and the rooms were spread across a number of bungalows. I was in a twin share!!! Result.

I was a bit apprehensive to say the least about black water rafting. It is a combination of caving and floating down the river on giant individual inflatable rings in the dark. The weather was against us as it was really stormy in the afternoon. Apparently there is a tropical cyclone out at sea and thus the weather is rainy and quite cold. Anyways, we were picked up from the hostel to take us to the black water rafting centre. Once there we had to stand in what was a practically a gale and listen to the safety speech. In the process of getting drenched, the canopy over the huts where we were standing was starting to come loose and a tree was smashed over by the wind!!!! We then got into soaking wet and slimy wetsuits. Mine was particularly attractive as it was tighter than skintight and left no room for imagination!!!

We then jumped in the mini bus and headed for the caves. We were all freezing by now as the wetsuits were cold and wet inside, let alone on the outside!!! Driving along we had to dodge a few fallen trees and the road was swamped in mud and leaves. None of us really said much as we were all terrified as we knew that the rain we had had over the last few days was going to make the river rise high in the caves.

We jumped out of the mini bus just to try and keep warm and chose a large rubber ring. We had to look for one that allowed our bum to fit nicely inside. We then headed to the river for a test jump. The guides made out that we were going to jump of a 15 foot platform backward into the brown merky river!!! We were all whispering to each other that we didn't want to jump backwards off a 15 foot platform with a rubber ring attached to our backsides!!! We actually had to jump of a 4 foot platform into the river. Phew. Not a funny joke at all. I was a bit apprehensive but did the jump and was totally submerged in the river. I did come up again but with a lung full of water!!! This was only the test run!!! I was scarred enough at this point.

We headed to the cave entrance. It was a small gap that you had to squeeze through. The caves were named by the Maori. I forget the Maori name but it means wild dog caves. God knows why anyone would have ventured into these caves. After a bit of negotiation of the cave entrance we got into the dark realm of the cave. It was difficult getting good footings as the river was brown from all the silt washed in by the recent rain and so you were constantly grabbing the cave walls for support and feeling your footing go as the rocks you were treading on were loose. It was pitch black except for our headlamps. We started off with a gentle float through the first cave. The current meant that you bumped into the cave walls a lot and at this point my hands were feeling a bit battered! We had a short pit stop whilst the guides gave us some more info about the famous glow worms. They are actually maggots that let down sticky trails in the hope of catching insects brought in by the river. Their poo is actually the bit that glows and this is used to attract insects. They have no mouths and so once they emerge as flies they mate and die.

After flowing through the cave and looking at the glow worms we got to our first falls. This was the first jump we had to do. I was pretty nervous as you had to jump backwards into the water whilst holding onto your ring. I was at the end as so watched as everyone did the jump. It was all going fine until someone fell through their ring and one of the guides jumped in to rescue them. I did the jump and again was totally submerged by the water. It was actually really good fun. Bit nerve-racking though as you had to avoid the rocks (above and below) when you jumped!!! We then floated through the next cave, but this time with our lights off and all you could see was the small red light on the person's helmet in front of you. The glow worms were amazing. It was a really special experience. Really glad i did it.

After a short while we got to the last jump. I wasn't too scared for this jump but it was a bit tricky as you had to balance right on the edge whilst avoiding the fast current to the right of the river. I did the jump okay but a girl behind me didn't want to do it was was swearing at the guide!!! We finally found the exit to the cave and had to climb over the slippery rocks to get out. Wicked fun.

Photos of Blackwater rafting to follow.....

The next day was quad biking!! We got picked up by the farmer who organised the trip and he was a bit of a character. Sort of like one of those Aussie Farmers you see on beer commercials (XXXX). We got suited into some lovely smelling suits and got onto our bikes. We were speeding through this man's farm at some really wicked speeds and going up and down, up and down, all the time. The farm was pretty muddy due to the rain the area had been having and so you really had to power through the trail. Someone got stuck and it took about 10 minutes to free them!!! There were some really steep hills on the course at at some points you didn't need the accelerator at all.

The views were outstanding, although it did hailstorm through the morning and at some points it got a bit dangerous as it really hurt you eye balls, you could help but close your eyes!!! It was really good fun and we were on the bikes for over 2 hours!!! Result. The bus was waiting for us when we got back into town and we then left for our next stop.