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Published: January 8th 2009
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Day 66 West to Marocopa
Its 2009! Well it is for us, you guy’s are 11 hours behind and have yet to leave 2008 behind. So happy New Year to come everyone!
We’ve spent the day exploring the Waitomo Cave region and had some fun getting very wet and muddy.
First we ventured onto the Watomo Bushwalk, a beautiful walk through bush (obviously) with a river gorge and some cool caves thrown in.
I was having a brave day and decided to venture deep into the caves (with Jaime holding my hand of course) and then waded through a freezing cold gorge to climb some rocks Hawaii 5 O style (no hand holding there, Jaime found the water too cold to negotiate the wade across the river teehee).
Oh and before I forget, have a look at the cave pics, can you spot the really rude stalactite / stalagmites? Naughty!
After the walk we headed for the Mangapohue natural bridge. The bridge was formed through a collapsed cave that spanned over a small river. We came across another one of those fab stick insects, just love the way they move, its like break dancing!
Behind the bridge were some rocks with
35 million year old oyster fossils.
Very tranquil place to be…..
Then it was time to be really brave, we ventured onto to the Piripiri cave system and after checking we had enough back-up batteries for our torches climbed down into the steep and muddy caves. We even had to use some slippery ropes to get down some of the slopes. Great fun! Didn’t think I would ever find myself saying that!
And just when we thought we couldn’t get any muddier it was time for the Marokopa waterfall!
I decided that it really would be a great idea to climb down to the waterfalls and have a little paddle. Haha, you should have seen the muddy embankment we half climbed, half slid down. It was a real mudfest!
Never mind, we were filthy from the caving anyway.
The falls were spectacular and Jaime did his usual of climbing around sharp and slippery rocks to get as close to the falls as possible. I managed to get some great pic of him standing practically under the falls with a beautiful rainbow though.
What a way to spend New Years day eeh! Hope all your hangovers weren’t too bad in comparison!
Day 67 Nothing much to report today, just driving back north to Auckland.
Day 68 A Sting in the Tail
Finally, it’s the sharky stingray day!
We set of to the aquarium of Kelly Tharltons which is set along the shores of Auckland.
Kelly Tharlton was the first in the world to build an acrylic aquarium with a walk through tunnel. The centre now specialises in the conservation of turtles and stingray’s which is why we choose to invest in some encounters of the fishy kind there.
Jaime has a BSAC diving license and was therefore able to go diving with some stunning sharks in the main tank. Twenty minutes of swimming with School sharks, Bronze-nosed Seven gills and an amazing Wobbegong! The tank also held various specious of fish and a couple of small stingray’s.
The Jaimster’s so brave, he dived right in and looked right at home in this amazing underwater world. He even had a chance to collect some shark teeth on the bottom of the tank. Sharks have over 3000 teeth and frequently re-generate them.
The pics are slightly blurry due to the thick and reflecting acrylic, but I will try to edit
and post them ASAP.
Jaime really loved the experience and was so psyched up that he decided to join me with my Stingray encounter later that same day.
We peeled on some wetsuits and slipped into the stingray tank with Rebecca our diving instructor.
We had several ray’s in the tank with us, the biggest of which was called Phoebe who weight in at a stunning 200kgs with a wing span of over 2 meters. Stingray’s can grow much bigger than this and can be found to have a wingspan of up to 4.3 meters.
The type we swam with are the most poisonous, but they are more likely to cuddle you to death than sting you. These creatures were so gentle with us. We fed them mackerel by hand and got to stroke their beautiful wings as they nestled up against our bodies.
Rebecca informed us that if they really wanted to they could easily have thrown us around the tank with their body weight, but we certainly had no worries about that as all they wanted was to feed and have their wings stroked.
We had some pictures taken, but I have yet to find a place to
scan them in so will post soon as.
Kelly Tharltons was the last adventure we had time to undertake in wonderful New Zealand. I would recommend it to anyone, but if you’re worried about being harmed by these wonderful creatures, just remember that you are far more likely to be killed in a road accident, never mind being bitten by a shark or stung by a ray.
Day 68 Last Day and home time
We woke up in our trusty camper Walley for the last time. Put the makeshift bed away, made breakfast and said our last farewell’s to this incredible place.
It was time to prepare ourselves for the long journey home…..God I am gonna miss it here and although not every day was perfect I would do it all over again.
Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and our adventures so far.
We have plans to continue our travels after a few weeks in the UK so keep your emails open.
Lots of hugs and a Kiwi good bye from Dini and Jaime xxx
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mama
non-member comment
my little girl is home
Hi everyone, Nadines Mum here, what can I say I have my little girl home in one piece. I have enjoyed reading about the exploits of Nadine and Jaimie and looking at the wonderful pictures but believe me I am absolutely over the moon to have them both home safe and sound. I envy all that they have done and wish I had the chance to do it too, still I have had my moments and I am happy they had theirs. Enough of my ramblings, welcome home you 2 IHEGDL hugs in person now. xx