For the Benefit of Mr Kite

After our wonderful experience at Rotorua, our next stop was the little town of Waitomo. Waitomo doesn't have a lot going for it except one of New Zealand's biggest cave networks. They offer two types of caving experience, one that involves steps, handrails and like, and one that doesn't. Tom and I were going for the later. Originally, we had planned to do what one of the caving companies call 'The Lost World' which involves abseiling into the cave followed by swimming etc, but we decided that was too much (please remember all of the other exhausting things we have done on the journey). So we decided to go for what is called "Tumu Tumu Toobing". This is the classic black water rafting trip. Black water rafting is pretty much any caving (or splunking) where you get wet and get wet we did.

 

The trip started off with us squeezing into wetsuits because the water in the caves is understandably cold (no thermal heating in Rotorua). We then hauled ourselves across a farmer's paddock to the cave entrance. The cave entrance was just a sign of things to come - it was a tight squeeze. We had to climb down a ladder and at one point squeeze ourselves through a remarkably small gap. After that it was lots of climbing over rocks, wading through water, squeezing through more holes. We even swam through some of the deeper parts of the cave. We had two really good guides who were very light hearted about experience which I assume would work well for people who are a little bit scared. At one point they let us swim 25 metres down a wrong way just for laughs. They also made us crawl about the same distance in a very tight space and smeared mud on our faces for laughs as well.

 

The best bit of the trip was when we got to the 'toobing' bit. This is floating in inner tubes through some of the cave. First there was a jump into our tubes (you could do the jump, or just flop into your tube - we both jumped). Then we all linked up (feet under the person in front's arms) and turned off our lights and the guides led us through a really long passage full of glow worms. It was really spectacular. The glow worms are really pretty. They put off a bluey-greeny light and there are so many of them.

 

Before the end of our trip, we tubed again, but this time less impressive, climbed and squeezed some more, had a hot drink and a chocolate and my favourite, floated on our backs through some fast moving water. The bit we did this in was called 'Pinball Alley' because you bumped against the sides. It was fun. We'd done another float on our backs earlier and this one was through a really tight bit of the cave. Not long after pinball alley, we reached the end and I was sad. I was really enjoying the trip. We hiked back up through the farmer's paddock and got out of wetsuits and back into town for dinner.

 

The place that we were staying at in Waitomo is owned by the same people as Rotorua, but newer. We thought this would mean it would be a bit better appointed but we were wrong. It appeared that the 20 year old pillows from Rotorua had been transported to Waitomo so that all can share in their uncomfortableness. The service was terrible as well. There are many things to complain about but there are more interesting things to discuss.

 

After another night without much sleep for me (Tom was not so bothered by the pillows). We headed up to the Coromandel Peninsula. We drove around the peninsula during the day and it was really pretty. At one point we took a wrong turn and ended up in a little town ship north of Coromandel Town that was really pretty and not too busy. I would have gone for a swim in the picturesque bay but I wasn't wearing my swimmers. 

 

Thames is a really nice town. Big for a New Zealand town but quiet. We didn't do much in Thames because its the kind of place where you don't do much. Had the best breakfast of our trip at Thames. There is a cafe called Sona that does a whole range of gluten-free food. They even have a good gluten-free bread (so good that I bought some to take away with us). Tom had what he describes as the best iced-coffee ever.

 

We stopped at Mataoki Cheese Factory on our way out of Thames. This is a little farm where they make their own cheese. Not much to see there but the cheese was nice. On our way up to Thames we stopped at Paeroa which is where they used to make L&P. They don't anymore and all that is left is a large-ish L&P bottle and a cafe.

 

Our next stop was Whangerei which is about three hours north of Auckland. Not much to do in Whangerei. The place we stayed at was nice though.

 

We stayed one night and then moved further north of Auckland to a little place called Keri Keri. We liked Keri Keri. It's a small town with lots of tourists but its not too tourist-y. It's close to the Bay of Islands and it has good food. We stayed on an organic orange farm which was really nice. The owner was a really funny old Swede (from Sweeden, not the vegetable).

 

On our first day we went to see New Zealand's oldest commericial building and New Zealand's oldest house. They were interesting but there is a major road that runs out the front of them which seems odd seeing as they are such important buildings. On the second day we went to Russell, a small town across the bay. The ferry trip was nice and so was the town. After Russel we stopped at the Kaleidoscope Factory - that was really cool. I want a soap bubble one or one that lets you view the world with Kaleidoscopic vision but they were expensive.

 

Our second night there was New Year's Eve and I can say that we had one of the best New Year's Eve's that we've had in a long time. Pretty much everyone who was staying there (an Australian guy from Mt Tambourine, a Belgian Family, a Scottish couple) stayed in for the night we all spent the night drinking and generally having fun. Belgian's can really drink, my glass was constantly refilled. Stayed up far too late. Woke up slightly hung over and grumpy. Luckily there wasn't much traffic on the roads to Auckland so that was nice.

 

Running out of time. Will blog tomorrow about the last bit of our trip - Auckland.