Blogs from Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 7

16/2/09 = Black Water Rafting Woke up to sound of loud voices. Stirred for a while until finally looked at watch and saw was 6am. Loud voices at 6am? Can't be. Tried to doze back off and back came the voices...no, the voices were not in my head! Loads of people in room getting up to check out early; not whispering like a normal/decent human being would at 6am, but using a normal speaking voice and actually shouting at times...to some particularly lazy guy, who, like me, did not want to wake up or get up! Didn't want to get up to tell them off because didn't want to wake up properly myself, so put head under pillow and fingers in ears. This is dorm living! Next woke up at the much more reasonable time of ... read more

February 11th We were on the road early because today we wanted to hit Waitomo Caves. It was only a good hours drive north of Tongariro and the car was loving the tight twists and turns in the road. Waitomo Caves is famous for its glowworm caves and the invention of black water rafting. Black water rafting consists of jumping on a giant rubber ring and floating down the cave’s stream systems, occasionally plopping off a small waterfall or two. Katherine signed us up for ‘The Labyrinth’, which was a black water raft/tube, plus we were to cruise through a few glowworm caves. It was the daddy and the most popular choice. We donned our swim-suits and were each given a three piece wet suit, a defo photo opportunity because of how ridiculous we all looked. ... read more

Tuesday 3 Feb Left Russell at the usual time about 11.00 decided not to go to Cape Reinga but to head West towards Waipoua Forest. Stunning coastline particularly at Opononi with giant sand dunes across the bay. Through a forest of Kauri trees with one giant tree 1500 years old. Al, met a group of hairy bikers all leather and Harley Davidsons and all shepherds or shearers on an 8 day biking holiday. Stayed the night at a tiny campsite on the beach at Pahi (Bazza, this is on the edge of Kaipara Harbour) only 3 other campers. Heard about the snow in England as we sit in 28 degrees of sunshine and blue skies - sorry about mentioning that! Wednesday 4 Feb woke up to mist over the estuary and headed for Waitomo. Hardly any ... read more

I think it's pronounced "Why-tuhmo" - the tumo part said quite quickly. Can't really get that across, I've been try to say things in the correct Maori way, but it's quite hard. Some people say it doesn't matter, others laugh when I say things incorrectly! Maori for example, the mao is pronounced like the first syllable in mouldy. So there you go. Waitomo is a tiny village, but it is famous for its caves and glowworms. I caught the "Waitomo Wanderer" bus at the crack of dawn last Friday, and I was convinced to go "Black Water Rafting,"which involves going along a river in cave, in an inner tyre. I was also convinced to just stay the day, not the two I had planned. Anyone who has read by blog recently would see that this was ... read more

Following our amazing trip over the Forgotten World Highway we resorted to some time on the beach at Oakura (just South of New Plymouth) on the Surf Highway to relax. The Tasman sea has a reputation for great breakers and we weren't disappointed - Michael really captured the skill of body boarding in, even Garry and I managed creditable performances. The only down side to the beach for me was that the sand was volcanic and therefore black - this didn't put Michael and Peter off lying in it, rolling in it and generally getting covered with it!!! We met up with some people from Cumbria who had emigrated to NZ in May to celebrate New Year. They had arranged to go into New Plymouth for a Festival of Lights - but the weather changed abruptly ... read more