Waitomo

We took it easy this morning after last night. We didn't have much planned for the morning so we headed off to Waitomo after our slow morning and some breakfast. It took about 2 hours to get there and we decided to do a small bush walk, the Ruakuri Bushwalk. It was a short 45 minute loop through the bush forest with some interesting cave formations and archways along the way. The path made a small figure eight to match with the cave tunnels. Towards the end of the walk we saw a big cavern with rushing water flowing into the underground caves that we couldn't see. The water seemed pretty powerful after the rain yesterday.

After the bushwalk we drove up to Haggas Lookout to try and see Mount Tongariro which you're meant to be able to see on a clear day like today. When we got to the lookout, it had piles of gravel and overgrown trees and the signs had been taken away. With the overgrown bush and trees, you couldn't see anything. Disappointed, we made our way back down towards the town where we had our caving tours.

Allan got dropped off first at Waitomo Adventures for his 100m abseiling and cave adventure. I said goodbye to him and would head back to pick him up in four hours. I drove a couple minutes back down the road to Legendary Black Water Rafting and checked in for my Black Labyrinth tour. They tell you to check in half an hour before, and I was a bit late after dropping Allan, so I rushed to pack a bag. When I checked in I was told to sit and wait for like 20 minutes. But annoying, but at least I didn't miss anything.

The tour started with getting kitted out. We got wetsuit overalls, a wetsuit jacket, booties, and rubber boots. My body shape is not designed for wetsuits, so it took me some time to get into it, especially with it being wet. Eventually all my gear was on, and I was waddling around in my poorly fitted wetsuit. We got a picture taken before we left and then loaded up in a van for a short drive to the cave.

When we arrived, I recognized the parking lot. We were back at the Ruakuri Bushwalk parking lot! We loaded up our black inner tubes into the van and drove a little bit further down the road before getting out at the cave entrance. We got a safety briefing and then we climbed down some limestone steps into the cave. As soon as went in, there were some glow worms hanging out at the entrance, as well as some big ass crickets. Having only ever seen the glow worms at night in the dark in all their luminescent glory, I'd never seen their little "fishing lines" that dangle from them. It was pretty cool.

After our initial steps into the cave, we sat in our tubes to drift under a wall of limestone. The water was pretty high, and with my head all the way back touching the water, my nose was still less than an inch from the ceiling. Thankfully it was very brief and my panic attack didn't take form at being trapped under the stone. The water was absolutely freezing, partly because it's a cave, and partly because of all the rain the last couple of days.

Once we finished our short drift, we stopped at a small waterfall. We went to the edge and put the tube under our butt before launching off backwards. I mean, it wasn't far, but you still get a pretty big shock from not being able to see when you hit the water and the fact that the water is so cold. After that backwards jump, I was soaked through, hair included. Everyone else was pretty similar in their shock when plunged into the cold cave water.

Post plunge, we stopped in a little tunnel with some glow worms above us. Our guides gave us a little chocolate marshmallow fish and told us about the worms. They are kind of like maggots and use their sticky fishing line to catch bugs that are attracted to the bioluminescent light. Once they reach adulthood, they go into something similar to a cocoon and emerge like butterflies that have about 5 days to fly around and mate before they die because their digestive systems no longer exist. The male dies after mating and the female flies around the caves laying little pockets of eggs before she runs out and also dies.

After our science lesson we continued through the cave. At some points we floated through on our tubes, at others we walked and clambered carefully over seen and unseen rocks. We also had a bigger waterfall that we had to jump off, backwards again. That one I let out a bit of a squeal, as did many others. About an hour later, we floated down our last section of cave before climbing back out. My feet were pretty numb and cumbersome as I climbed out of the cave and walked down the path back to the van.

Back at the Legendary building, we all struggled and pulled at the wetsuits. Once I finally got everything off, it was a numb walk to the shower. The hot shower definitely helped me feel better, but it was the warm soup back in the cafe that further warmed everything up. I headed out to the parking lot and started making soup and Allan got dropped off there. We had our dinner and then did the 2 hour drive down to Tongariro. We are starting the Tongariro Crossing pretty early tomorrow so once we got to our campsite about 25 minutes from the starting point for the hike, it was straight to bed for us.Read more