Hot Water Beach, Waitomo and Rotorua, New Zealand, Kiwi Experience

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There were 54 of us on the Kiwi Experience bus which is a hop on hop off adventure bus that we were getting from Auckland to Christchurch via many other stops. Each day the driver sends around sheets for the activities you can do that day and you just sign up to the ones you want to do, which is great because you end up doing a good activity almost every day but it's not so good for your bank balance, oh well, YOLO and all that jazz.

Our bus arrived at Hot Water Beach in the afternoon and the group all walked down to the beach with shovels to dig holes in the send trying to find the hot water. At first it was only cold water under the sand but once we moved into the middle of the crowd we found the hot water coming up through the sand, you couldn't stand in some of it because it was that hot! After the beach we all headed back for fish and chips at the hostel then headed out to do a 2 hour walk to Cathedral Cove which is a naturally formed tunnel through a rock carved out by the ocean. On the walk I tried my best to speak to as many people as I could to get to know them all and everybody seemed really nice which was good as we would be spending a while together. The water was freezing but we went in anyway. We all made it back at the right time just as it started to rain. Back at the hostel we drank some of our duty free vodka and played card games all night with the people from our room. Before we knew it the whole group had crowded round and everyone had drinks and got to know each other, things were looking good for the group dynamics which always makes the trips even better. A lot of travelling is just as much about the amazing people you meet and share the experience with not just the actual experience/activity itself. I was one of the last up so I jumped in the shower and forgot I was in a shared bathroom as nearly everyone was in bed, so I'm stood there naked drying my hair and Geordie Amy walked in on me meaning she saw the full package, sorry Amy!! It was time for bed.

We had an early start in the morning so I cooked me and Freeman beans & sausages on toast. We did our usual supermarket stops, a walk through some woods and arrived in Waitomo around 3pm. We had decided to do the 5 hour Abyss Black Water Rafting tour for $185. Most people did the cheaper, shorter tour but in our group was me, Freeman, Hannah, Sarah, Aussie Jess, Scottish Kieran and Dutch Tim. We had a safety briefing, were taught how to abseil and were thrown straight into it, abseiling down a 35m hole in the ground. At one point on the way down it went really tight but once you had squeezed through that gap it opened up to a dark, damp underground cave. It was good fun and at the bottom we turned our lights off and looked up to the roof to see the fluorescent green glow worms. We then zip lined down further into the cave and did it in the pitch black, I did a fake girly scream all the way down which set of a kind of 'Mexican Scream' from another group further in the cave. They gave us hot chocolate as we sat on a ledge above the water and had a sing song. We grabbed a rubber dingy and jumped off the 3-4m ledge seat dropping into our dingies, the water was freezing even in our wet suits. We all floated down looking at more glow worms and the guides then told us to turn our torches off as they pulled us back up so we just lay back admiring the cave. We ditched the dingies and walked or swam further through the caves, at one point squeezing through a tiny circular hole known as the pregnant lady or something as it's like being born when you come out the other side. We staggered down 'drunken alley' where the floor under the water is really uneven so your falling everywhere. After another stop for chocolate and warm juice I did the salmon along the rocks and into the water. We were now 60m below ground level! For the last part of the tour we had to climb up the rocks through waterfalls which got pretty tight and scary at times, not good if you are chlostrophobic. We showered, had some hot soup and got dropped off back at the hostel. We went to the bar for a drink but hardly anyone was there so we called it a night and luckily me and Freeman had a private room with comfy beds so we slept well.

After a good sleep it was easy to get up eat and make the bus on time. It started to piss it down as we left. First stop of the day was Hobbiton where the film was made. Some people paid $90 to do the tour of it but I wasn't that bothered especially at that price. Instead we drove straight to our hostel after a tea break and our hostel, Base Backpackers, had a naturally heated swimming pool as Rotorua is a geothermal area. You see steam rising out of the ground all over town and houses have vent pipes in their gardens to release the steam, the area smells strongly of sulphur (fart) because of this. We had a walk around the town and went to Fat Dog Cafe for a chocolate caramel shortbread which was huge but I managed to finish it. We walked back to the hostel and got in the heated pool which was really nice as it was a bit cold and rainy that day. Some of the girls came in so we all did shoulder wrestling and used the floating worms to play gladiator style. Caroline (who we called Gail after she told us someone said she looked like Gail Platt) and the legend that is Dodgy Lauren Rodgers had a few pre drinks with us as we were going to a Maori night at 7pm. We jumped on the bus and Shantelle nominated Freeman to be Chief. When we arrived the 4 chosen chiefs from the different groups had to line up to be confronted by the Moari men, who intimidated them by thrusting spears inches from their faces whilst having crazy wide eyes, sticking their tongues out and making crazy noises. Freeman was chosen as Chief Chief and so led everyone up the paths through the jungle to loads of different stations. First we learnt how the Maori women dance with balls on the end of strings (no I don't mean testicles), then they played a stick game where three people stand their stick up then drop it but have to grab a different stick to increase their speed and hand eye coordination. I then played the ladder speed game which was similar to football training but two young kids were in front so we went slow, but I then did a jumping ladder on my own. They told me I had 48 more exercises to do but he was just messing about. We were then taught the Haka but they chose all the big lads in the group (George, Nick, Tom and Ali). It was time for our all you can eat roast dinner which had been cooked in underground holes that looked like wells (known as hangi). They would fire it up at the bottom and then cover the hole with wet cloths to keep the heat in. The food was really nice and we had a couple of drinks after dinner before the 4 chiefs along with the staff performed the Haka for everybody. We were all full but when we got back to the hostel still went to Lava Bar next door. Me, Tim, Ali and Freeman dominated the dancefloor with all the girls and it was a really good night. They decided to close the bar early at half 12 so we all had some banter back in the room but got to sleep about 2am.

After yet another early start we went past the geyser and geothermal park where a few people paid to go around but we decided not to do it. The people who didn't go in went for a walk through the forest area before picking the others up and starting our journey to Taupo.

A great start to the Kiwi Experience with an amazing bunch of people that were already starting to bond really well as a group. Roll on more good times ahead!

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