Last night our driver guide told us to be ready by half 7 to leave Hot Water Beach for our next stop in Waitomo. This meant an early wake up and I had to be woken by alarm as it was still dark at half 6 when we all woke up. I think I still prefer having darker evenings however because by the time I get to end of my trip in NZ the days will be much shorter as it will be close to winter! Due to the rush this morning I just had toast for breakfast, and surprisingly everyone was ready by half 7 to leave!
On our way out of Hot Water Beach where we returned to the winding mountain road in the countryside we came in on, we stopped off at this lookout over with views of the sunrise over the ocean. Like yesterday there were many islands and our guide told us that they are used to encourage the growth of endangered species in NZ. A short while later when continuing along the road before joining a straighter road, we stopped at the small town of Paeroa. This was basically our supermarket stop of the day, although it was interesting seeing its history as a gold mining town. It is also famous for the drink l&p although I've never heard of it!
After spending around 45 minutes here we took a short drive down the road to Karangahake Gorge where we went for a short walk round this old gold mining area. It was fun to start with crossing this wobbly rope bridge, before following this fast flowing and rocky river along this walkway on the side of these cliffs. The scenery was pretty impressive. Crossing another rope bridge, we entered an old mining tunnel which was really dark, although there was the odd exit with a viewpoint looking over the river we had just passed. Before long an old railway track became visible which marked the end of the tunnel. There were remains of old trucks, and we followed this all the way back to the car park we arrived in. It was only a half hour walk or so but the old mining remains and scenery were amazing along the way!
When returning to the bus after taking advantage of a water fountain which actually gave cold water, we were told about future activities this time in Roturua. It seems that activities are booked a couple of days of prior which means I don't really need to worry about booking in advance like Australia. Kiwi Experience reserves more than enough places on things for everyone! Our driver has also done everything himself so he was honest about what he thought about everything. The other thing I did was book my buses to Queenstown, although the dates could change as there are a couple of places I think I want to stay longer in on the way down. As it stands I arrive in Queenstown on 2nd April.
After a sizeable drive down to Waitomo, we stopped off at the black water rafting centre where I paid for my caving trip. I opted for the 5 hour black abyss trip, the most expensive but I just thought to myself when I am ever going to get the chance to go caving back in Lancing! Being with kiwi experience does get you discounts which was good though. After paying up we took the short drive down to the hostel where I checked in my room which was a twin room with single beds, pure luxury compared to what I've been used to! As I had a bit of time on my side as I wasn't getting picked up until 3.45, I took the opportunity to write my blog which I have basically caught up on now!
A short while later after exploring the small village of Waitomo which didn't have much at all, I got picked up ready for my caving trip. After a quick safety briefing we got into these thick wet suit things which included everything from socks, wellies, trousers and a jacket. We were told not to wee in the suits though as it doesn't go through the suit. Apparently it instead stays inside and when finishing at the end it washes all round the body and makes you stink! We then had to put a harness on along with all these karabiners ready to partake in the necessary activities within the cave!
After a short transfer by minibus we arrived at this remote car park and had a quick safety and practice session abseiling down a small hill. We were then up one by one ready to abseil 35m down into this pitch black hole! There were 6 guys and 2 girls in my group, and it happened to be the girls who took ages to go over the edge. I was described as Spiderman when reaching the bottom, although I did keep banging against the wall as I lowered myself in! It was a spectacular sight at the bottom as I relaxed on a rock with glow worms above, waiting for everyone else to come down.
When we were all eventually down the bottom, we followed this metal walkway surrounded by cave corals and oceanic fossils to this zip line. Our guide went first, who was then followed by one of the guys, and all we heard was a big bang followed by swearing! One by one everyone went into the pitch black, until I was last up. It was real fun, and I found out the bang was in fact the guide bashing a rubber ring. When at the bottom, the guide did embarrass me as he told me the way down was by bouncing when hanging there. He then turned the light on and I looked like an idiot!
After a short break with flapjacks, we then got ready for the next section which was tubing. This involved us jumping into this water on a rubber ring and floating down the cave. I was first up and the water was freezing! After all the guys went down, we were left with the girls once again who were scared to jump off. They got off eventually! We then did a little warm up exercise which finished up with us chucking ourselves everywhere in the water. When all warmed up we lay in our tubes and grabbed this rope which we used to pull ourselves along the water. It was actually really hard work, although I soon realised the water was really shallow!
We then turned out our torches, linking up our rubbing rings after learning a bit more about glow worms. We floated back the way we came in a snake like formation looking at the impressive array of lights above, before ditching our rubber rings where we started. This enabled us to walk/swim to the next section, before arriving at a section called the drunken stroll. The clue is in the title because when walking along here the rocks were unpredictable which made us go everywhere! At the end of this section there was a waterfall which we could hear on approach, and we went down it on our bellies on this metal slide.
We then sat down on these rocks where we had chocolate and more warm cordial. We also got a group photo here where we managed to get these illuminated pictures by moving our helmets lights with the cup over it. We then continued along the water along this ridge before heading up this small turn off where we saw an eel. It was then onto this tight section which was a squeeze to get through, before emerging at the foot of this waterfall. We had to climb this without ropes, and after climbing these two major sections we followed the water flow outside where it was now dark. It was a challenging end which required strength but when looking back at what I had just done I was like wow!
After hiking back through the forest a minibus was waiting for us and after a short transfer we arrived back at the centre where we had soup and bagels waiting for us. We then as a group bought a memory stick which included some cool photos of us, before heading back to the hostel where I was exhausted! It wasn't long before I was in my room and curled up in bed!
No comments:
Post a Comment