Blogs from Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

Ein weiterer Trip mit den International Students, mein 2. nach dem Farmtrip, und diesmal ging es nach einem ca 3stuendigen Autotrip zu den Waitomo Caves. Die Waitomo Caves sind in Neuseeland beruehmte Gluehwuermchen Hoehlen. Nachdem mich die Kassiererin als Staffmember angesehen hat, was ich ja auch sozusagen bin ;) durfte ich umsonst rein anstelle von $48 normalerweise (was meiner Meinung nach etwas zu viel waere, fuer das was man sieht). Aber fuer ganz umsonst konnte ich die Hoehlen und die Gluewuermchen geniessen. Auch kenn ich inzwischen ganz genau den Unterschied zwischen Stalaktiten und Stalakmiten ;) Danach ging es noch mit den Maedels an den Strand. Der Sand war schwarz und sehr sehr schoen und es wurden viele tolle Bilder gemacht :) Mit einem kurzen Zwischenstopp in Mokau fuer Eis oder Chips wurde der Tag abgerundet bevor ... read more

Idag var vi pa aventyr, namnligen black water rafting i grottorna under Waitomo. Vi borjade med att fira ner oss 37 meter rakt ner i marken. Vi akte linbana i genom en kolsvart tunnel for att ta oss ner den sista biten. Vi fick vara gummiringar som skulle halla oss flytande under turen och hoppade sedan ner 3 meter i det iskalla vattnet (11 grader). Vi gled pa floden och sag miljontals lysmaskar i taket. Nar vi var fardiga med simringarna borjade vandringen genom grottorna. Vi fick klamma oss genom supersmala oppningar samt klattra upp fran vattenfall utan att anvanda sele. Hela turen varade i 5 timmmar och efter fick god tomatsoppa samt bagel for att varma upp vara frusna kroppar. ... read more

Mar. 2 Back in Rotorua Quiet day today. Did take the time to explore the museum here. It was originally build as a thermal/medical spa. The building is very impressive and was well worth the time we spend there. It is currently being restored so half of it was closed. Tomorrow we are off to Taupo. March 3 To Taupo Today is a shorter travel day with our first stop at Wai-O-Tapu, a thermal wonderland. This another of NZ’s many volcanic areas but is a very colorful one. We only had about an hour to take a look, but well worth the run around the grounds. We started with watching a geyser blow its cool. This geyser was enhanced by adding rocks around it to create a cone, and then it is seeded to make it ... read more

Wednesday 24th November 2010 (Rotorua – Waitomo) We had an adrenalin filled morning on our way out of Rotorua – Richard went Zorbing at the worlds original Zorbing centre where they threw him down a ZIG ZAG hill in a large ball filled with water. It only lasted about 30 seconds, but Joanne managed to take a few hundred photos of him while testing the ‘continuous’ function on her new camera – looking at them after looked more like a film from a flicker book. Just 2 minutes down the road we were given 30 minutes at adrenalin junkie heaven where they had a bungy jump, bungy swing, schweebing (a self powered recumbent bicycle in a bubble which you race around a monorail style track) an air powered skydiving freefall simulator and super fast jet ... read more

We had an uneventful trip to San Francisco where we met our grandniece Paige. After 3 movies, several cat naps and 13 hours we landed in Auckland, NZ. We flew on Air New Zealand which has very nice service and excellent food. Reminded me of the service we had on Air France when we went to Italy in 2001. We let San Francisco at 7:45 PM on Dec. 31, they served champagne to everyone when the plane was in the time zine for midnight. We then landed at 5:55 AM of Jan. 2 having skipped Jan. 1 completely. The hour change between NZ and NV is only about 4 or 5 hours, but the day is different. How confusing can that be. We picked up our van without any problems. We are not into high visibility ... read more