Blogs from King Country, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

Waitomo is an area which has about 300 caves. One which I have now explored to some extent. Now, to actually get into the cave...well we had to abseil down into the darkness for about 35 metres. At one point it got really narrow but I weaved my way through. The rope was so heavy that I couldn't get a clean smooth descent until I was much further down. We were all equipped with helmets that had head lamps which was cool, twas very scary when you turned them out though! After walking for a little while we had to take a flying fox down to the lower part of the cave...in pitch black! It was so scary sliding down this pulley system at quite a speed, but the glow worms on the ceiling took your ... read more

We have been black water rafting today and it was fantastic, if not a little scary! It is not really rafting at all, more a cross between caving and tubing. You get kitted out in wetsuits, helmets with lights on the front and these very tasteful white boots. You then get given a big rubber ring to sit on and you are ready to go. We started off by walking in the caves which are between ankle deep and waist deep in water. The first bit of tubing involved getting on our rings and lying right back so we could float through a section of cave with a very low roof. You had to lie horizontal or else you would not fit. I found this bit a scary! After that it was sections of walking and ... read more

Via Kaitaia och Auckland (dar vi for forsta gangen betalar for att sova i sangar) tar vi oss med buss till Waitoma. Det ar en liten hala dit man aker av en enda anledning. Har finns grottor med massor av ljusproducerande mygglarver i. Det finns dock en och annan som forsoker locka till sig turister pa andra sett. Bla ett skjul dar man kan titta pa nar stackars angorakaniner blir klippta. Fran fluffbollar till nakna stackare pa en kvart. Forsta kvallen tog vi en lang promenad bort till en naturstig langs vilken man kunde se "lysmaskarna" i buskar och grottoppningar nar morkret foll pa. Pa vagen hem var det aven fantastiskt stjarnklart och vi hittade flera upp och nedvanda strarnbilder vi kande igen och forsokte identifiera det sodra korset. Morgonen efterat var det dags for grottforskning. ... read more

Firstly - congratulations to sis for getting offer excepted on the house - fingers x it all goes smoothly! Thanks also to Laura for being concerned for my safety but am still here to tell the tale! And to Bigbro - Adrenaline - the best is yet to come - The black Abyss! Well we cruised on down to Waitomo in very heavy rain, and arrived at Blackwater cafe where theres a number of optional tours - we ofcourse went for the most exhilarating wahey! This starts with a 35 metre abseil down an hour glass shaped pothole which seemed to last forever - previous lesson in abseiling was also included b4 this! On reaching the bottom we ended up in a massive cave which we proceeded to follow down a small passage way. Then you ... read more

Instead of Skydiving we donned wet suits and gumboots and went caving in the Waitomo region - including a 27m rappel down into a gorge, lots of underground blackwater rafting (on truck tire inner tubes), being swept away by the rapids a few times (don't ask), dodging stalagtites (some can be quite sharp), squeezing through holes that were not designed for squeezing through, admiring glowworms, generally getting wet in the dark and finally rock climbing out again in the driving rain and darkness. Superb! And followed the best hot showers and chinese takeaway ever!!... read more