Exploring the Waitomo Caves

Today was such an exciting day! We spent the day in the Waitomo Caves doing the Black Abyss Adventure tour. This five hour expedition combined abseiling the 35meter/115feet tomo, climbing, whizzing down a flying fox, and cave tubing underneath glow worms into one unforgettable journey. Ah, such an adrenaline rush!

We woke up around 7:30am, and had breakfast at the hostel. The hostel owner was up, and was as charming as the day before (i.e. passive aggressive). We decided that it must just be that we aren't getting his sense of humor... That, or he was just a weird fellow. 

We walked over to The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company, which was just across the way. As usual, we willingly sign our lives away and got ready for a day of fun. We started off by getting geared up with wetsuits, booties, shoes, harnesses, and helmets with head lights.

In addition to the three of us, there were five others on the tour. Susann and Rudy, an older couple from Germany, who had been traveling in Thailand, Australia, and were making their way to French Polynesia after NZ. Syd and Marigold were a younger couple from London, but who were currently living in Sydney. And then there was Cosmo, the American with the awesome name who was traveling in Oz and NZ for a few months. It was a great group of people, and it was so fun being on a trip with such enthusiastic people. 

Our three guides, Flash, Nicky, and Corran, were great. I was a little apprehensive about the abseiling (I'm such a scaredy cat), but they all made me feel very at ease. Seriously, why am I so nervous about everything? They explained everything well and were super encouraging. 

The first part of the tour was abseiling down 35meter/115feet into the Ruakuri Cave. Luckily, we got to practice a little above the ground before they threw us over the edge. Descending into the seemingly bottomless depths was definitely an adrenaline rush. You start going down, and had to shimmy your way through a tight part of the cave, before making your way down to the bottom. Everything was pitch black, and all you had was the head light. This part felt like it took forever! I kept thinking I was almost at the bottom, but no... Still no light from the others, and not a sound to be heard. So there I was, hanging by a rope in a black hole, on the verge of freaking out (just a little though). I managed to mutter "Ummm... Guys?" Thankfully, they answered, and it wasn't too far left to go. I was greeted by the whistling of one of the guys; the theme song from Indiana Jones was very fitting. 

We made our way down the cave, and took in the dazzling display of nature's artwork. Glow worms softly illuminated the ceilings and walls, leaving us so mesmerized we almost lost our step on the uneven cave surface. We had to be careful not to touch or bump into the rock formations above our heads; the so-called "stalactites" took hundreds of years to devolop. If you were unlucky and broke off something, you could be fined between NZ$10000-25000, depending on the size of the damage. Yikes! Talk about expensive rocks!

Our next adrenaline rush came when we got to the "flying fox". This was a pitch black zip line through a section of the cave. So exhilarating! After completing the flying fox, we took off our harnesses and got ready to go tubing (i.e. black water rafting). I wish there would have been more zip lining!

To go tubing, you first have to get in the water - the freezing 11Celsius/52Fahrenheit water. The quickest way to do this was to jump from the a platform about 2meters/6.5feet above the surface. 3 - 2 - 1 - JUMP! Brrrr... So cold. But I guess you got used to it (Hah. Not really). 

The tubing was fun, and very relaxing (despite being a bit chilly). There were lots of luminous glow worms in the caves, and these are indeed as cool as they sound. The scientific name for the New Zealand species is Arachnocampa luminosa. Doesn't that sound like some spell that Harry Potter would say? The Maiori name for them is titiwai, which means "projected over water". The glow "worms" are actually fungus gnats at the larva stage, but that doesn't really attract a lot of tourists... So, glow worms it is! They glow because of a biochemical reaction called bioluminescence that occurs in their digestive tract. They glow to attract prey, and a hungry glow worm will glow more than one that has just eaten. Fascinating, huh? 

One of the guides, Corran, had a good singing voice and put it to good use; he sang quite a bit for us down in the caves. Lots of different genres, too. My favorite was probably "A Whole New World" from Disney's Aladdin while we were floating down the river looking at the glow worms above us. Made me forget how cold my hands and feet were for a few minutes! 

The rest of the tour was pretty much just making our way through the cave. At one point we were 65meters/220feet below the ground. There were lots of narrow passageways to squeeze through. We climbed up a few waterfalls, too! They weren't too big, but still fun and thrilling. Oh, and we saw an eel! AN EEL!

After a few hours in the caves, we were looking forward to hot showers and something to eat. 

Needless to say, the showers were DIVINE! The complimentary tomato soup and bagel hit the spot as well. 

Before we got on the road again, we stopped by the animals next to our hostel. I think Sydney made a new friend. 

This pig didn't look like he was interested in making any new friends... So we stayed at a close distance. 

The guardian of the "Tennis Courts" was adorable. 

Once we were satisfied with our time with the farm animals, we started our journey to Tongariro National Park. As oppose to yesterday, we were actually able to take in some of the beautiful New Zealand scenery in the daytime today. 

Happy road trippers with the Nissan from the year 2000.

We stopped to take random scenery pictures and animal pictures. We were so excited about the animals you'd think we had never seen a cow or sheep before. There were so many of them though! Check out the welcome we got on one of our stops. 

Side view mirror selfie is a must. 

The tour today wore us all out, so we stopped along the way to get recaffeinated. I got some yummy iced coffee. "It's like getting hit over the head with a 2x4 on purpose" was exactly what I needed after a long day. 

The 142km/88mile drive to Tongariro National Park took us longer than expected. Bertha took us on a little detour to Lake Taupo. The ride was pretty, so no harm done. We still love Bertha (our GPS).

Tomorrow we'll be heading over the Tongariro Crossing, a distance of approximately 19km/12miles. After finally making it to our hostel, YHA National Park Backpackers, we quickly realized we weren't as prepared for our hiking trip as we thought. Thankfully, the awesome receptionist hooked us up with suitable pants, hiking boots, gloves, and extra socks. We're good to go! 

Before hopping into our comfy bunk beds in the 8 person dorm, we went to the restaurant across the street and had some dinner. I can recommend the New Zealand made Speight's Triple Hop Pilsner! 

We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Time to get some shut eye!

Love, 

Suzy