Port Albert - Waitomo

Today was a 300km driving day to get us to our next destination so we had a chilled breakfast before getting on our way.

We decided to keep following the twin coast trail through Helensville and on until we hit Auckland as it was a bit more scenic than just getting on the motorway. We decided not to stop in Auckland but to carry on to a dump station in Takanini which had toilets and showers too. Places that combine all necessities is like Christmas come early when living out of a van. After having a spot of lunch we we were back on the road.

Tonight's free camping spot was a pub / restaurant carpark called Roselands (which boasted an all you can eat beef casserole with roast potatoes for $10 although we discovered later they had actually bumped it up to $15) which was a short drive down the road from the Waitomo caves. Waitomo is famous for its glowworm caves which you can visit in a variety of ways, some crazier than others. We opted for a 3 hour tour that involves being in a wetsuit with a rubber ring and floating through the caves. There's also some climbing and waterfalls that require navigating involved.

After we had our fill of food we headed back to the van and set up the bed. We weren't long led down before the whole van lit up, a couple seconds later came the loudest clap of thunder I ever heard! We had heard in the pub the tours are often cancelled due to the amount of rainfall and high water levels so the holidays worst weather so far was not a great sign for tomorrow's caving.Read more