Just a quick update: I've trekked to waterfalls, hiked through farmland and forest, visited a Maouri Marae, danced a traditional Maori Poi dance, hand-fed deer, goats and an ostrich, eaten hangi (the traditional NZ dinner prepared of meat and veg cooked on hot rocks in the ground), and kayaked on huge lakes... All in less than two weeks of being here. I did some caving in Waitomo (Haggas Honking Hole) which entailed abseiling down underground waterfalls (which I can simply describe as feeling like you're being flushed down a toilet), squeezing through tiny gaps trying to avoid the thousands-of-years old stalactites above you, then rock climbing past glowworms. It was one of the most amazing things I've done! If in Waitomo I highly recommend you stay at Juno Hall Backpackers - it was
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