Blogs from Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

Yesterday I went on an amazing adventure by going underground and exploring some caves in Waitomo. I did it with the Black Water Rafting Company, and they were a really good crew. Check them out: http://www.waitomo.com/ One of our guides, Dan, kinda looked like AC Slater from "Saved by the Bell", only with a Kiwi accent. It was a 5 hour caving experience. We got kitted out with wetsuits and rope harnesses before we made our way out to the cave. We received some brief training on how our repelling gear (absailing gear for you Brits) works, and then we headed for the hole. I had to work my way through a tight opening and then it opened up enough for me to lower myself down to the bottom. Our next challenge was to ride a ... read more

Not too much of an early start today......up at 9am for breakfast - superbly presented by Kathy and Allen - and then a bit of blogging and map sorting, and then off. First visit was Waitomo Caves which are famous for ....... being caves !!!!! But ..... there are loads of thing to do here plus glow worms (or magots with radioactive s**t or so we were told). Anyhow, we arrived a liitle bit unsure as to what to do - do we do the full on action tour or the more sedentry tour. As we're getting old (especially me) we thought th emore gently one, but then thought "Oh, sod it" and decided on the full on, get wet, break your leg, black water raft one (which was departing in 10 minutes). We rushed on ... read more

We set off early today to get a good head start. we went to Raglan centre to have a look around and to check out Wannui Surfers Bay.. Weren't many surfers unfortunately as the waves weren't massive but there were a few! Raglan is a nice surfer town and has a very chilled atmosphere to it - no ones in a rush whcih is always nice! We saw a calf cow legging it down the road as we were driving on .....it's escaping being eaten we decided - the smartest cow in new Zealand! After checking out the surf we drive down to Waitomo Caves with me back behind the wheel. We chose our caving trip - BLACK LABYRINTH woooooooooo!! The caves are famous for their glow worms! And then found some accom at the YHA ... read more

Yup we have been and gone and black water rafted....given that there was so much rain again last night, we decided to seek our entertainment 85ft underground.....and because there was so much rain it was to our benefit, as the underground rapids were wild....... We were strussed up in rather fetching wetsuits, that were wet from the previous trippers, i just hope that mine had not been wee'd in by the previous person wearing it. We then were given helmets with torches, and a big rubber ring, before being given some brief instructions on how to paddle through the rapids. The trip was for three hours through some amazing caves, really tight tunnels, where you had to lie back, and duck out of the way of stalagtites, pulling yourself along by your fingers....therewas watrefalls inside the ... read more

It was an early start this morning, real early but all nine of us made it and were excited for our black water rafting adventure. A weird thing has happened since i've started travelling, whenever I have a few drinks, I have an overwhelming urge to make sure that everybody in the vincity knows who I am, my life story, my future aspirations and my outlook on my life. Now when i'm sober I am fully aware that this is not much interest to anybody but I can’t seem to help myself, this morning this came to bite me. As I was trying unsuccessfully to get into my wetsuit which was the biggest obstacle i’ve ever had to face in my 25 years, I suddenly hear a voice from around the corner, "I know that voice, ... read more