Rain, rain, go away

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Waitomo Caves
December 18th 2006

Published: December 18th 2006

Hi. I start with a small warning/apology - I'm in a dirty Waitomo bar, surrounded by fruit machines and on a computer that hasn't been cleaned since Noah's days. Whilst they have a laser mouse (you should see some of the dirty mice I've had to cope with...) the keyboards here are all sticky. Hopefully you'll be able to work out what I mean if there are letters missing, but you are forewarned!

Yesterday (Sunday) I spent a lazy day at Sarah and Ian's (Liz's friends). I volunteered to attempt making Kylie's laptop run a bit faster and spent all afteroon attempting to download AVG ona 56k connection, only for it to bottom out 20 min from the end. This is what CD burners and the postal system were invented for.... anyway, I got some piccies on line so hopefully you guys can stop moaning at me for a few days. I have 3gb of pics so far (for seven days, nice!) I ca bore you all with later and will put up on my website when I get back to Blighty. Was a nice relaxed day with Sarah doing some Christmas cooking, the girls hungover from the night before, Ian off doing manly farmer type things and me forgetting where I put my brain. It was raining much of the day so it was fun to just read and chat. Ian treated me the night before to some more of his home brewed whiskey (you can't argue with that kind of hospitality), last night I attempted the whole bottle of Sauvinon Blanc (spelling, anyone?) but failed rather miserably. Sarah's dad did let me try marinated muscles (sadly not the type on big bloke's arms), they tasted a bit like rollmop herring. I enjoyed trying it, but didn't have another one... Hopefully Sarah has found the book and it's something for her to enjoy with all that huge amount of spare time she'll have over Xmas 😉

This morning it was still pouring with rain. It was tough to pull myself away from Shortland Street (any one remember that kiwi hospital serial in the UK? Still terrible) and the rather sleepy Kirstin. I went up to Hukka (pronounced Hooka) Falls. The guide books had said how wonderful it was. It was magnificent, but, unless I was looking at the wrong bit, I didn't think it was quite as stunning as everything suggested. It's where the water rushes through a narrow channel, creating hydro electricity and falls into a bigger lake. The water is gorgeously blue and inviting (even on a grey day when it was tipping with rain) ad it rushing through looks lovely. Well worth a visit, even if from the waist down I got absolutely soaked! Luckily y combats dried quickly in the car (and the last bits in the loo and dryer).

From there I drove to Waitomo for the caves. Much of the scenery reminded me of Salisbury and the Stonehenge area. It was quite hilly and green, lots of rocks sticking out all over the place. I then went through a mounaineous area scenic reserve, which was a bit more lush and rainforest-like. Then back to the Salisbury-esque rolling hills again. The little town before Waitomo (Te Kui or something similar) was a handy loo and fuel stop (for the car and me).

I got to Waitomo just in time to get my bearings (tiny little place), get into the B&B and then head off to Billy Bush's Kiwi Culture Show. It wasn't very full, but was still lots of fun. The atmosphere was set just by the barn type "theater", the very old creaky comfortable chairs and the food sack curtains. The show lasted about an hour with "Billy Bush" giving us some insight into Kiwi farming and logging history. He showed some of the tools and techniques used in clearing logs, including climbing up artificial tree branches, two man sawing, how to make a fence posts with explosives. He bought in aimals too, including a "Kiwi Bear", donkey, pig, dog and sheep. Right at the end he bought in a steer, the black and white jersey male cow with it's bollocks cut off. This thing was HUGE. He icked named it Big Mac (no Paul, not after you!), because it's the animal they rear for hamburgers. Also chatted to him briefly about shearing sheep in England with Liz and he remembered you; "little thing, Tibbs wasn't it?".

I then headed off to Ruakuri Cave. This means "Den of Dogs" as when they found it dogs settled inside the caves. The Mauris also used it as a graveyard for their dead as they believed the spirit went into the cave and into the underworld. It was shut for a number of years, partly to protect the sacred ground, but also as the Government couldn't decide who owned it... This is one of the less touristy caves with smaller groups max 15). The guide was pretty good, telling us about the different reasons for the stalagtights (hanging down) and stalagmites (going up), water seeping through the limestone. There were some gorgeous formations down there, which looked a bit like big waxy cadles having dripped everywhere. It was fairly cold, about 1 degrees, 12 degrees in one of the caves. There were also glow worms (which are maggot that then change into flies). It was a great two hour walk, which didn't seem to last that long! We saw some people "toobing" (remember that old CPC game Lewis?) through the caves in wet suits on rubber rings. I decided I wasn't really an underground kinda gal and instead tomorrow morning I'm going horse riding again to see if I can actually get into second gear without doing my manic scared laughing...

Right, off for a walk I think!

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