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Published: August 13th 2007
To finish off Saturday's entry, we went to the Maori Hangi in the evening which was full of fun. We were picked up from our hotel, taken to the home grounds of that Maori tribe and watched a concert full of their traditional songs and dances, etc, then had a huge buffet dinner with lamb, potatoes, salads, and more. It was great. It's always nice to learn about other cultures, especially when they're interested in learning about yours as well.
So me and my cousin decided that yesterday, Sunday, was going to be adventure day. We had this day planned out for ages, even though I wasn't really looking forward to it. We were hoping it was going to be a sunny day, of course, it wasn't. First thing in the morning we left the hotel and went to the Luge. This is like a downhill go-cart track with no motor. You use the little luge to navigate down the track to the bottom and take a chairlift back up. I did this last time I came to New Zealand, and totally loved it, so I was really looking forward to it. Well, with the rain, it made things quite interesting. Most of us were wearing jeans, and when you're sitting down, your legs get soaked. After 3 runs, we were drenched. Still quite fun going down the new advanced track where you got some air off one of the hills and then slid off the track at another point. Great fun.
The second part of the day is what I had been dreading about for days. We were going to go glowworm caving. Okay, to most of you, you're going to think... "What the hell is the problem with caving? Why would you be dreading it?" Well, it was in the water. It was black water rafting caving to see the glowworms (little spider like larva that have a light to attract other insects to eat). We had to take an inner tube to be able to float down the 4-kilometer underground river and navigate the obstacles. Now those who truly know me will understand why I had been dreading this. I just don't do water. Put me in a shower or hot tub and I'm great, but anything else, no thanks. I couldn't let myself pass up on this opportunity though. I'd hate myself forever if I did. So I didn't pass on it. There wasn't any real swimming, so that was my motivation to keep going. And besides, once I was down there, the only way back up was downstream to the end. The first obstacle we came to was a small waterfall. It was 1.5 metres high. Okay, so thats not tooooo bad, but its pitch black. We had to stand at the edge of a cliff backwards, holding the innertube on our butt and fall back into the water. Okay, panic time. I really wasn't a fan of it, but I really had no choice but to do it, so I did. We then were floating downstream all linked up for a bit looking at all the glowworms on the roof of the cave. Then we could start to hear the next obstacle... another waterfall. Except this one was 7 metres high, not a tiny 1.5 metre one. The company has built a waterslide on this one to be able to get down it safely as its quite shallow at the bottom. Just imagine a slide going down a 7 metre waterfall in a cave... it has to be steep to fit in. Again, I knew I had no choice but to do it, so I sucked it up and went. It was a fast slide having water flowing down it with you. Then a short walk to the end and up stories and stories of stairs in a wetsuit and gum boots full of water. It was quite the experience. I bought the cd which has pictures of us doing it, cause I knew no one would believe me when I said this is what we did - especially mom! If I find a place that has a laptop connection I can upload the pictures to here, otherwise you have to wait until I'm home. I hated my cousin for mentioning the idea and booking it, but now I love her for pushing me into doing this.
Now does this mean I'm comfortable in water and I'm good to go? No. Haha.
I'm having a great time, but miss everyone so much. I feel like I've really connected with Ria, my cousin, this time, and think if we lived closer we'd be quite close, but the damn Pacific Ocean is in our way!!!
Bye for now!
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Jen
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KYLE!! I'm so proud of you. That sounds like so much fun. The sliding down part..not the looking at glowing larvae part. I don't miss you at all. Not even a little bit. *twitch*