NZ; Waitomo, Raglan and Rotorua

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With our Kiwi Experience pass we were able to travel to the western side of the north island, to the areas of Waitomo and Raglan. This meant that we left the actual Kiwi bus and joined a smaller outfit that headed out to the cave region of Waitomo. We were warned that Waitomo itself was a small place with very little to do other than caving. This was an understatement; the town had grown solely by the tourism created by the cave formations. Waitomo is very isolated and set in a dramatic hilly backdrop surrounded by agriculture. The nearest ATM was 17km away. We went to look at the caving packages on offer, including a 8 hour trip called the black abyss which included an abseil onto the cave itself followed by a couple of hours in the waters of the cave exploring the glow worm hang out spots. Despite the claims of all that had been that it was well worth it and that the glow worms were amazing, Suz and I were not keen, Suz was a bit under the weather and it was expensive. Instead we headed back to our hostel which was quite pleasant and headed out for a bit of a hike.

We went to the Waitomo Walkway which had a long walk on offer, but opted instead to just stroll up to the top of a good lookout point. The vegetation was jungle like, very thick with creepers and vines hanging down 40ft. We had to negotiate through a field of cows which was very odd. They were everywhere but not overly concerned about us. We got some good photos of the surrounding area at the top of the hill. As were to be on the road for a long time the next day we cooked enough for four, and ate the rest in transit.

We went to Raglan not knowing much about it, having only been told that it was a small town and a good place for surfing on the coast. We were really lucky that when I phoned ahead there was still availability at the Hostel, originally named Raglan Backpackers, as it turned out to be one the best places we have been to. The town was small but quirky, with some great shops and nice restaurants and bars. It is really a town dedicated to surfing and smells in size in the summer. After dropping our stuff I hired a wetsuit and Surf board and we both headed to the beach with some American girls. Suz was on sunbathing and Photo duty, whilst I headed out with my enormous foam board. Having been a given a brief lesson by Josh, the hostel reception person, I was confident that this was to be a walk in the park. It took me no time at all to realise I was being optimistic. However with some perseverance and after some heavy falls i managed to get standing. We stayed to watch the sunset which glowed orange and provided some good shots.

The next day Suz persuaded Mark that we should rent a Kayak. We headed to the other side of the river's mouth, Suz was perched in the front and was unaware of my tactical paddling non-participation. We found some really interesting (Joe) pancake rock formations on the other side with small caves to explore and stacks to navigate around. We stopped off a couple of times on the mainland to have a little look around. We eventually reached a point with a large ledge to jump off. We were warned that we should only jump at high tide so I swam in to investigate before taking the plunge. It was lucky I did as the water was not sufficiently deep. After heading back, I went out again for a surf, whilst Suz went for a dip in the Jacuzzi. The car that belonged to the hostel was happily loaned out to those going surfing. The keys were just handed over and off we went. Very odd. This time I took a more advanced board and got on quite well. We packed unwillingly and popped into the Jacuzzi before bed. It was sad to leave Raglan which we both really loved.

We got back on our small coach service and headed back the way the came before turning off to go to Rotorua. Rotorua is another tourist attraction, this time mainly boasting its huge Geysers and geothermic activity. Rotorua itself we found was a slightly out of date town that did not have a welcoming feel like most of the rest of New Zealand to go along with the smell of rotten eggs from the sulphur. despite this we went to the Gyser park/museum, which also had a very traditional Maori village amongst the grounds. We first visited the local meeting place and watched some traditional Maori dancers in traditional dress ending with a Haka. The dancing was great and the Haka was pleasantly scary. We then went for a walk of the parks, seeing a couple of Kiwi birds. The Kiwis were really odd, slightly prehistoric looking with long bills for searching for food amongst the forest floor. We then went to watch the geysers which at full eruption could reach 60ft high. We were lucky that when we arrived they were shooting off. It was a good day and the park was really interesting as we could really engulf ourselves in the Maori ways. In the evening we spent some time in the bar next door to our hostel playing some pool with some large locals.

We stayed for a couple of nights in Rotorua to make sure we could get everything done. However this was enough time and by the time we were leaving to head north to go to Auckland we found ourselves not disappointed to be going. It would also mean that we would be rejoining the Kiwi bus again.

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