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Published: November 13th 2006
Well its been a while since our last post, but we've been busy. After Auckland we headed south to the Coromandel Peninsula and took a kayaking trip to the stunning Cathedral Cove for some cappuccino's on the beach! Later that night we headed to Hot Water Beach, where you can dig your own hot spring spa in the sand. The spot is only accessible a half an hour before and after low tide. Not many people get to do this, but we had a perfect spot under the stars.
Next day we jumped off the Stray bus in Hamilton, the largest inland city in NZ. The city is known for its shopping and pubs, and we did both. We were lucky enough to be guests of Jeff & Kelly, who own and operate two carwash and dogwash facilities in Hamilton. Our plan was to spend only one night in Hamilton, but our hosts treated us so well we spent three days at the Olsen household. After housing and feeding us, they even drove us to our next tour stop, Raglan.
Raglan is on the west coast and is considered the surf capital of NZ. We stayed at the super
chill Mt Karioi Lodge, which is just outside Raglan, with easy access to surf. The lodge is secluded in the bush on the side of the mountain and has only one rule: you can do whatever you want. Clayton went surfing for a couple days and Ang chilled out and went for a couple walks and a hike.
After three nights in Raglan, we hopped on the bus and headed to Waitomo Caves. We were going to do the black water tubing tour of the caves, but it rained so hard the night before that the cave was closed. Instead we did the "Haggis Honking Holes" abseiling tour of the caves, which was the most dangerous or funniest thing we've ever done, still trying to decide. To start we had to abseil 20 metres into the cave, and then 7 metres inside a waterfall! At one point in the tour we were 80 metres below the surface. It was super fun though and a good cure to a heavy hangover.
On November 8th we arrived in Rotorua, the geothermal capital and stinkest place in NZ. Besides the smell the city has really good resturants and is right on
the second largest lake in the country. We spent three nights in Rotorua, checking out the volcanic and geothermal action. We visited Te Puia geothermal park and watched a sweet as gyser blow up and a traditional Maori concert. We also went white water rafting on the grade V Kaituna river, which includes a trip over the 7m Okere Falls. Before we went we signed our life away and agreed we may kill ourselves. It was a lot of fun, we didnt flip the boat and everyone lived.
Right now we are in Lake Taupo, NZ's largest lake.
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scott
non-member comment
hot water beach
haha, abo