New Zealand

This morning we woke early up to another grey, cold and wet day. We decided we would rather go surfing when the weather is nice. Conny and I had a yoga class booked for the morning. We walked over to the space yoga studio only a couple of minutes away. The class was only $10 for anyone staying at the hostel. I really enjoyed the class and I felt very relaxed afterwards. It was also good to stretch my aching muscles after all the walking we've done.

We drove to Manu Bay and Whale Bay in the afternoon. We saw lots of surfers at both beaches. Luckily it had stopped raining but was still grey.

In the evening we did night time Canyoning with Raglan Rock company. We got picked up at the hostel at 4pm. They drove us to get changed first in to a thick winter wetsuit with knee and elbow pads and also a wetsuit jacket on top. They gave us wetsuit socks and wellies to wear. We had to wear a helmet with a head torch. They drove us to near Karioi Canyon. They first showed us how we clip on and off the rope and some tips for abseiling.

We first walked down to a river. We had to get in the river and walk through a narrow river with overgrown plants. You had to be careful as the rocks were slippery. We then had to crawl through a wet narrow tunnel. There was 2 so we all had to race another person. Unfortunately I wasn't as quick as one of the guys in the group, but it was still good fun! We walked through lots of rivers and over large rocks. We then came across the first waterfall. It was dark by then so we had to put on our head torches. I was feeling quite nervous to go off the edge of this waterfall in compete darkness. Ashleigh wasn't nervous at all just excited. They helped me attach myself to the rope. I slowly went down. Unfortunately I did fall over after getting over the first bit on the slippery rock . I thought I couldn't get back up again but I managed too. I abseiled my way down getting wet from the waterfall as I went down.

After this we walked down slippery rocks and up and down small waterfalls. There was lots of walking involved and you had to watch where you put your feet. We then approached another waterfall to abseil down. I clipped myself on and abseiled down. I was a little more confident this time coming down. A bit scared but I did enjoy this one. I'm glad I did it as it was completely out of my comfort zone. I can now say I abseiled down a waterfall in the dark! What an experience.

After more walking we came across a large waterfall and we turned our head torches off and you could see glowworms everywhere. It truly was magical!! You could even see the waterfall in the dark. There were other spots we could see them by the river but next to the waterfall was my favourite spot. We then had the option to climb a steep waterfall. The water was very powerful and our guide said if you don't normally go rock-climbing you may struggle to reach the top. I decided to opt out of this one. Ashleigh did it and he said it was very hard but he enjoyed it. I walked along a muddy cliff edge along a rope to the top of the waterfall to watch them climb up. After this we walked further along the river and over rocks and small waterfalls. My legs were beginning to feel tired. After we got out the river we had a short walk back to the car park. They dropped us off back at the hostel. I was glad to have a nice hot shower when we got back about 8.30pm. We had an early night after a busy day.Les mer

Today we went to Haruru Falls down the road. I couldn't believe how much water there was after the floods. The 3rd picture is what the falls normally look like.