So, what have we been doing since Jim's last post? Well, there was a music festival called Homegrown on in Wellington so no room at the inn, or hotels, motels, b&bs, etc when we got off the ferry. (FYI the journey was vomitless -again!) We eventually found a room in a one horse town called Levin, I think even the horse had bolted! The next day we drove through a place called Bulls. Its claim to fame? All the signs have 'bull' in their name or slogan.
Oh, how we laughed!
Anyway, you get the message.
The north island is much gentler in it's scenery than the south island, and although I do love the towering Southern Alps, which dominate the landscape and the endless lakes, gorges and waterfalls, I prefer the rolling hills and meadows in the north.
We spent a day in an interesting and very beautiful town called Wanganui
A 190m tunnel took us to an elevator in a hill, it seemed really odd walking out of an elevator, as if you were in a shopping mall, to be greeted by a gorgeous 360 degree view of the town, fields and hills.
On to New Plymouth, right on the coast. Another bike ride, this time along the coastal path - and back, stopping for a coffee at the Big Wave Cafe and sitting in an armchair overlooking the sea.
I had a traumatic incident that night, I stood on my kindle and broke the screen, I can only see a third of the screen. Jim was distraught too, the thought of me not having any books to read was unbearable, or was it I would be unbearable without any books to read. Anyway, its back to the old fashioned way, found a bookshop and bought 3 books! The relief in Jim's face was palpable.
After our cycling trips and sightseeing of past few days something a little more challenging was called for, and I had said I would tackle something out of my comfort zone. I don't have too much of a problem with heights but caving, in a river, in the dark wouldn't be my first choice of activity so it was onto Waitomo Caves and we booked to go blackwater rafting through Ruakari Cave. After we had booked the trip it rained and it rained, the rivers were hurtling down the waterfalls and we began to wonder if it would go ahead.
The area is wonderful, all limestone gorges and ancient forest. An afternoon walk in the rain took us along walkways clinging to the side of a gorge and into a cavern. We also looked at a point where the river emerged from underground, not realising we would be in it also emerging from the underground the very next day!
The day dawned - grey and torrential rain. After a pleasant interlude chatting to a Canadian guy and his daughter we arrived at The Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company and met the others in our group, two couples from Holland, a couple from Germany, two girls from New South Wales, an English guy and a Swedish girl. After forcing our lithe frames into wetsuits and dinky little cavers boots we were given cavers helmets and loaded onto a minibus by our three guides: AK, Janna and Meg. We then had to select the correct size truck inner tube for our bums. Much hilarity. I'd just like to point out that mine was too big....
We then had to practise jumping backwards into the river clutching our rafts behind us, this apparently was the technique we would need to jump down waterfalls once underground!!! A mouthful of river water reminded me to keep my lips pressed together when jumping. Back into the bus and on to the caves.
A gentle descent into the underworld soon became a scramble, sliding down small waterfalls into the pitch black. We negotiated our way through narrow chambers where we could touch both sides and pushed ourselves through tunnels using the ceiling just cm above our heads as the water was so deep. It was exhilarating but scary. Of course we couldn't take a camera so AK kept taking photos along the way. Then, we came to our first waterfall...... OMG. The water was so loud, deep and fast. In turn we backed up to a narrow ledge, leaning forward, clutching our tube and on the count of 3,2,1 launched ourselves down into the water below, disappearing into the depths then bobbing back up to be swept along on the rivers current. We then waded through very deep waters where every step over the slippery rocks took you up and down, one minute up out of the water, next right down into it. We stopped to regroup and look up at the glow worms on the ceiling, beautiful. Janna told us a story about their lifecycle which basically goes like this:
Carnivorous, cannibalistic
Maggot with shiny shit
That fishes for 9 months
Sleeps for 2 weeks
Then shags itself to death!
A second waterfall to tackle, it was steeper, deeper and much, much louder, the water tried to push you off balance. Still, one by one we balanced on the edge, waited for the count then launched ourselves into the darkness. What an adrenalin rush!!
We formed an eel in the river, lined up, in our tubes, pushing our feet under the person in front's armpits. Heads back we floated through the most magical scenery, thousands of green glowworms twinkling high above our heads, stalactites and stalagmites looming out of the darkness. Jenna began to sing and, twee as it sounds, she had an amazing voice which sounded clear and beautiful and just seemed .... right.
Finally we turned our small helmet lights off and floated in pitch darkness on our own for about 5 minutes until we began to see light. We emerged into a glorious forest landscape with bright sunshine. Wow, amazing, I was dead proud of myself, and my hubby of course. What an experience, we had been underground for 90 minutes. Would I do it again? Probably....... not!
Hot showers, tomato soup and toasted bagels and a great chat with our little 'team' and we were off, every nail broken and huge bruises emerging.
We have a disc with all the photos on so if we can work out how to get them onto the I-pad (don't hold your breath) I'll share some with you.
Enough excitement, back to Auckland. It is now Saturday morning after a night of little sleep. We are in a pretty little apartment but it's right on Queen Street, the main shopping street leading down to the harbour. Also where lots of bars and clubs are. Last night was the first rugby match of the new season and Auckland universities first new students bar crawl!!! Double whammy! The sirens, screams, chants, singing, etc quietened down around 3 am but I've a feeling it may be repeated tonight!
We're off exploring now, enjoy your weekend.
It's Annies big birthday tomorrow, Sunday 26th.
Happy 50th Wedgie
All my Love
Jim
XXXX
- Posted using BlogPress from Annie & Jim's I-pad
Location:Queen Street, Auckland, New Zealand
No comments:
Post a Comment