The joys of Hitchiking

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Kia-Ora!

That is the only Maori I know and it means "welcome".

It's also too orangey for crows.

Anyway, so I left Thames racing a friend of mine to Taupo with them on the bus and me using my thumb. Hitchiking is pretty easy actually and I got picked up by an old couple from Chichester, which was nice. Unfortunately they said they were going through Taupo and actually went nowhere near it. Luckily for me I had wanted to go to Waitomo Caves anyway so got them to drop me off there. Now assuming my map has worked correctly you will see my starting point of Thames and the line down to Waitomo - you will also see at the very bottom of the map Taupo so you can see what a monumental detour I have taken...

So the caves then - I signed up for Black Water Rafting, which is essentially sitting in a black rubber ring and floating through a cave. However, this trip wasn't exactly advertised accurately. The first thing we had to do was climb down a ladder to get into the cave which included squeezing past a huge rock jutting out. Oh dear I thought, this could get interesting. Whilst I am fully aware of my hatred for heights, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about dark enclosed spaces. So managed to get down the ladder and the next challenge was to get on your hands and knees and crawl through another hole. This I also managed and they said that was a claustrophobia test, which made me think nothing could be smaller than that. Which is what I told myself before all the other bloody things I had to crawl through, including the 6 metres or so I had to get through on my hands and knees with barely enough room to move my arms. I managed it though so was pretty proud of myself. And I did eventually get to sit in a rubber ring and float whilst looking up at all the glowworms.
The weather then turned a bit wet and I didn't fancy hitching, so I pseudo-hitched and went and asked the german girls in my room if I could jump in their car and have them drop me off in Hamilton on their way to Auckland and here I am.

If Auckland is like Portsmouth and Thames is like Lee on Solent, Hamilton is very much like Reading. I quite like it here though, saw a couple of bands last night which was good. I'd like to stay another couple of nights so I can canoe the Waikato River that runs through the city (see? Reading has the Thames...) but I might be getting a call from a hostel in Taupo later about working there til I head north for xmas.

I don't think I have much more news at the moment so take care and enjoy the cold ha ha ha!

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Comments

[Simon]

Hey Greg
Hi Greg, Enjoying your blog and travelling vicariously with you. All sounds fun and know you're good at making new acquaintenances so sure you're meeting lots of people and having a cool time. Quiet here. Bob and Dickie doing something band-like. Was acoustic then going to be electric but no its acoustic again and no but yeah but no but soon to be electric again, although perhaps not. Anyway, waiting for their first proper gig to go and enjoy it. Missing banding but happy to have a bit of time spare at da weekends. Wee Stevie finished his job and looking for new ventures. Not picked up da bass since you went overseas. Archie and me going gliding tomorrow. Look after yourself, have a good time and keep writing. Simes.