Blogs from Waikato, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 8

I am so pleased we allowed time in our increasingly hectic schedule to visit the small rural town, Waitomo. We'd heard good things about the "black water rafting" that you can do there which had been described to us as sitting in a blown up tractor tyre tube on a river in the pitch black of a cave. Fun. The extensive network of caves in the subterranea of the Waikato district are formed as rain water trickles through a ceiling of porous limestone rocks, eroding the soft rocks and forming stalagmites and stalactites and all that.... The caves are also home to insect larvae which would normally be a reason NOT to visit the caves except these larvae are commonly known as glowworms. Vibrations in the cave trigger a bioluminescent reaction in the glowworm which in ... read more

Monday 14th August 2006 We went caving at Waitomo Caves, Waikato, which I was not really looking forward to. I had memories of very wet, cold and claustophobic school caving trips as a kid. I remember one part where it was so thin you had to take off your light pack and push it ahead of you, unabl to bring your ams down toyour sides, squirming your way two or three metres through a 'worm hole'. It makes me feel uncomfortable thinking about it now, but imagine me trying the same thing with my shoulder width now! So I was really pleasantly surprised to find it one of the best days so far! We were all kited out in thick wetsuits, white boots and helmets (see the super-hero photo) and it involved rock climbing, absailing, swimming, ... read more

Hello everyone! I hope life is good at home, where ever that may be! Since the last time I wrote I have come back to the North Island of New Zealand. Before I hopped over to the North Island I spent three days walking the Queen Charlette track in the Marborough sound. The first day the weather was shit, in rained the whole time so I ran most of the way. It's a pretty easy walk because there is a boat that takes your pack for you from place to place. Also there is a mix of High end resorts and cheap campsites, you don't really fell like your getting back to natural when can have a shower, buy a beer and sleep in a nice bed. But the views of the sound from the walk ... read more

This afternoon we got to go underground and check out some caves. We got to Waitomo with about 15 minutes to spare - just enough time to hit the bathrooms and gawk at some geegaws before meeting our guide, Savitri. We all loved Savitri. She was a young twentysomething Kiwi with a really charming demeanor. She had a habit of referring to the group as “sweethaats” and was very concerned about our welfare on the bumpy ride up through the hills on narrow unsealed roads that followed the ridge lines. “Ah ya quite heppy then, sweethaats?, she would call out, making sure none of us were carsick. None were. When someone mentioned how treacherous they thought these roads were, she replied, “Yeh, they don’t bother me, I grew up on roads like these”. After a 25-minute ... read more

We had pretty much written off visiting "Hobbiton" on our round-middle-earth-trip because of the weather but the sun was shining today so we followed the tracks of Gandalf's wagon to Matamata and had a guided tour of the movie set. Although many of the structures were intentionally demolished after filming finished, more than a dozen Hobbit holes remain, including "Bag End" (which we went in!!!). The "Party Tree" and field, the lake, "Bagshot Row", and views are all quite clearly Hobbiton and our guide filled in any bits which were missing for us. It was quite a special and unique experience for us both.... read more