Rotorua to Wellington

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington
April 23rd 2007

Published: April 23rd 2007

Edit Blog Post

Elnaz and Ashley

Black water rafting

some fun just before the rafting trip. we did't get any photos in the cave with our camera, so this is it for that trip for now!

After Rotorua we dove over to Waitomo Caves on the westcoast. A pretty boring town except for some Black Water Rafting. This is where we donned wet suits and an inner-tube and slid into a cave. Once inside we walked down a little stream for a waise before meeting up with a much large river. well they call it a river but it is more of a creek, not very wide, but very deep. With know real idea of how much deaper than you head it is and with it being that dark you just assume the it continues down forever! It is quite a strange feeling really!

Anyway, so after jumping off a couple of small ledges, backwards, we got into the inner-tubes, hooked feet and started floating down this 'river' while our guides told us about the glow worms that where decorating the ceiling. One place in the cave had a hole in the roof, 65 meters (about 65 yards) above our head. I guess the hole was about 2 meters in diameter, but from our viewpoint it looked about 30cm. Pretty cool and it let in just enough light to get a great group photo underneath

Angora Rabbit

The only place in New Zealand that has Angora rabbits. Yes, they are as soft as they look!

of it.

The only other interesting thing to do in Waitomo was to go see the Angora Rabbit shearing. Don't worry it is a lot cooler than it actually sounds. We got to the shed a little late and they had already sheared the rabbits for the day, but they brought out an unsheared one just to show us what they are like. They are pretty cute, for a rodent, and big. They have to be shorne once every three months or their fir gets too long and matted.

After leaving Waitomo we drove to Taupo, where some of the cheapest thrill adventures can be found. Things like sky-diving and bungee jumping. We desided not to do these things here (if ever!) and instead will put it off until we get to places like Queenstown! Instead we hiked to the Huka falls and sat in a hot water stream! Also of interest for the sane people is a sail trip out to the Maori rock carvings. These rocks were carved about 28 years ago by a group of guys that wanted to bring some recognition to their culteir as well as telling the story of their leader that

Angora Rabbit

And this is without hair!

brought them to that area. It is an impressive carving, some 10 meters high, and quite well carved.

After leaving Taupo we headed to the Tongariro Crossing, an active volcanic area just south of Lake Taupo. The track was about 18.5 km long and pretty steep at first. The hike took about 6 hours to do, and covered some really great ground! The only problem with it was just how really busy it was. There was probably at least 500 people all trying to start the hike at the same time. It was a bit crazy at first, but after the first 2 hours we had managed to get into a walking group that was all going the same pase so you didn't have to always try and overtake people or have others overtaking you. I think the pictures will just speek for themselves on this day.

Additional photos below

Photos: 17, Displayed: 17