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Published: February 2nd 2009
Hello!
We are now in New Zealand. We have 25 days here, so we booked a Wicked Camper (the cheapest, and the backpackers favourite!!) and our plan was to see as many of the highlights as we can in that time.
Our camper is called Captain Amazing! Living out of it has been surprisingly comfortable - especially considering it's not really a proper camper van, more like a biggish family car!
Some NZ stats for you:
- the country is fairly similar in size to the UK, but their population is approx 4 million compared to our 60 million!!
- for every member of the human population, there are 9 sheep!!
We've definitely realised those stats are true, as one blissful thing about this country is that there are no crowds. no queues, no traffic jams etc....that part is definitely a nice change from Australia. And we have certainly seen more sheep than humans!
It's a very picturesque country - lakes and mountains all over and loads of national parks.
One of the activies at the top of our to-do list was 'Adventure Caving' at Waitomo. They have gloworm caves there, which you can
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On the way to the caves, all dressed up and raring to go!view by a guided tour, or you can do something a bit more adventurous, which is what we did. We chose a trip called 'Rap, Rock and Raft'. We all spent quite a while just getting all the gear on. I realised after that everyone had chosen green trousers, except me who had chose blue. I thought this was some sort of omen that I was going to have a nasty accident in the cave!
It started with a 27m abseil into the cave, and then we explored the cave, partly on foot and partly by 'black water rafting' which is basically sitting in a rubber ring and letting the current pull you along while you look at the gloworms above and get pretty wet! There was also a section where the guide encouraged us to squeeze ourselves through these tiny holes in various rock formations. I was convinced my child-bearing hips would get me stuck, but luckily they didn't! Our guide seemed to like picking on Ben and made him do everything first! He was up for the challenge though.
The last bit (which was the most challenging) was the rock climb on the way back out
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Just after practising our rope safety techniques! of the cave. It was pretty steep in parts and sometimes it was a struggle to find something to grip onto! You know you can't fall to the floor because of the safety rope, but you could come away from the rock face and then smash yourself against it! But that didn't happen - phew!
It was really good fun and has given us both a taste for some more caving.
After Waitomo we headed to Rotorua which is known for it's geothermal activity. 'Geothermal activity', from the Greek geo meaning earth and therme meaning heat, seethes from cracks in the streets, steams from backyard hot pools, bursts from geysers throughout the area, and bubbles from cauldron-like mud pools. It's a really strange sight - you walk down the street and see all this steam coming out of the ground. (See pics!)
Also in Rotorua, we went on the Luge, which is a racing cart you ride down hill on a variety of tracks. You get a chairlift up to the top, which is really high up with great views of Rotorua, and then there are three different tracks. The scenic one, which is the most tame
(allegedly!) was surprisingly fast and the advanced track takes you round really tight bends and over little hills. It was really fun and Ben loved the speed aspect, and taking over everyone! We were wondering if there is a Luge anywhere near us, but apparently there are only 4 in the world - two in NZ, one in Singapore and one in Canada. So nowhere near the UK then! I think Ben is going to get together a business plan to get one going closer to home!
We're going to get the ferry over to the south island soon, so we'll have stories on that very soon....
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well done
well done to you both. didnt realise you were so energetic. and you both really look the part. must have been so exciting. especially abseiling. ps like the red hair maria xx