Glowing Green Thing and Backpackers!

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Not too much of an early start today......up at 9am for breakfast - superbly presented by Kathy and Allen - and then a bit of blogging and map sorting, and then off.
First visit was Waitomo Caves which are famous for ....... being caves !!!!!
But ..... there are loads of thing to do here plus glow worms (or magots with radioactive s**t or so we were told).
Anyhow, we arrived a liitle bit unsure as to what to do - do we do the full on action tour or the more sedentry tour. As we're getting old (especially me) we thought th emore gently one, but then thought "Oh, sod it" and decided on the full on, get wet, break your leg, black water raft one (which was departing in 10 minutes).
We rushed on over, got ourselves sorted and were ready .......... FOR THE BEST OUTFIT OF THE ENTIRE HOLIDAY.
Now, regualr readers of the blog will have been delighted with our tales of boiler suites, stinger suites and wet suites but this was the beez neez.
Imagine ......... (hopefully pictures on the way). A two piece number with little rubber booties and plastic hob nail boots and a "super hero type of shorts over the outfit" type affair plus a fetching hard hat with a 2 duracell battery light attached - SEXY.
These were not only wet but very STINKY from the previous wearers. Once kitted out we were off. A short ride to the cave we were asked choose a rubber ring. Not too big, not too small, these had to have our arses jammed in them while jumping off rapids and negotiating the caves without us sinking or capsizing.
To practice our "waterfall jump" we had to peform the above "jamming" and jump about 2 foot off a ledge into a cold stream - backwards.
This was accomplished and we were off, into the dark recesses of the earth .... Ohhhh .. how dramatic.
And it was amazing. A couple of short safety briefs and we were in the caves up to our necks in freezing water.
A bit further in, negotiating holes, stalagmites and stalagtite (forgive the spelling) and we were surrounded by the glow worms. Tiny little things that didn't do anything but pretty amazing none the less. It looked like the stars kids had on their ceilings that glowed in the dark.
The guides (once again) were great and funny and informative and lead us through the caves.
There were 3 mini waterfalls to jump off (arse first) which was funny. We both did pretty will (I think) and both got turned upside down at one point. The last stretch was done completely in the dark, we had to turn off our lights and just paddle through looking at the amazing lights... it truely was beautiful with a bit of scary mixed in. Finally we saw light and emerged in our high fashion suits to a picnic area that was full of people quite rightly staring at us - I knew it was cos they were all jealous! Back to the camp we were stripped of our wetsuits and hadbagels and soup as a celebration. This trip was excellent and we were so pleased we didn't do the boring old duffer trip!
No rest for the wicked though and back in the car for the 2.5 hr journey to Lake Taupo. When we finally got there all we could see was signs telling us 'no vacancy', we tried the three that had vacancies but it appeared that their signs were broken..! By this time it is about 7pm, but fear not we finally found some where.. the local backpackers! Although Woody swore he would never stay in one we had too! unfortunately the dorms were full! so we were stuck with a doubleroom but had to share the bathroom!!! I had one husband that was not happy but it was 60 dollars, clean and a bed! As soon as we were ready we went out for a lovely meal that cost more than the room! And had a few drinks in another hilarious bar with a 'live' singer and his 13 yr old son on the keyboards!!! The sunset over the lake was incredible though and all in all one of the most fun days we have had!

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Photos

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Sunset over Lake Taupo

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Our lovely room at the backpackers lodge. Hilton Shmilton !!!!!!

Comments

[Erin]

AMAZING
Ahhh how fantastic it all sounds - Bells Beach and the 12 apostles look absolutely breathtaking and your escapades in NZ sound so much fun - love the caves experience - I would LOVE to do something like that - we did rubber rings down the rapids in Sri Lanka which was great... and sort of similar but not in the dark. Anyway... Em and Mark are still nearly parents - I'm badgering them daily for news but nothing as yet. Mum has turned 60 and we celebrated at Watergate Bay which was lovely and I am still ill, diagnosis has gone from flu - viral infection - bronchitis - whooping Cough - I kid you not! Can't wait to hear more about your trip - face-to-face in February and of course celebrate your success with your new job - marvellous work - well done you! LOTS OF LOVE XXXX