It’s finally time to update the long untouched blog – our
apologies!
We’ll start with our incredible adventure under the Earth!
On the 26th of October Carly and I had our last day of work. We both
had such an amazing time at our respective workplaces and will sincerely miss
everyone who made our time their enjoyable – we are certainly leaving New
Zealand with many new friendships. Additionally we could not have asked for
better flatmates – Crina and Jess, know that you will be missed and that we had
an excellent time living with you!
After moving out on Saturday and a brief stay with Gavin Howse
we headed up to Te Kuiti/Waitomo in our rental car via some gorgeous farmland
and green rolling hills. The weather was awful but luckily that was the only
day of our week-long journey around the NI that was poor. We arrived in one
piece after navigating the crazy Kiwi roads on the left side of the road and
plopped down for the night to rest up for an insane next day.
On a lovely Monday we headed to Waitomo Adventures for a 7hr
“Epic” trip down into the caves. We were so lucky as the only 2 on the trip
with the best guides ever – Allan and Chris. They geared us up with some
flattering wetsuits and harnesses for our abseil down into the cave – 100
meters! Carly handled it incredibly well though I have to say I laughed
nervously all the way down…not looking good for our skydiving plans.
At the bottom we had a spot of lunch, met a friendly cave
eel and then headed downstream for a few minutes into the cold cold rushing
river. After surveying a few waterfalls we headed upstream – we would be
fighting the water for the rest of the day!
Going over and under water/rocks/waterfalls we climbed our
way out of the cave slowly, stopping in some places for some “choice bombs”
(cannonballs) and awesome photo opportunities. Chris and Allan were excellent
photographers, capturing our shenanigans in low light and even managing to get
some great shots of the glowworms! Those are the main attractions in Waitomo
and we were lucky to spend a half hour or so staring up at the cave ceiling
towards the end of our slug. After six hours of fighting the current, Carly and
I were stumbling all over the place and we definitely had some bumps and
bruises to show for it.
Our guides treated us to a lovely BBQ dinner, Kiwi style after returning from the caves – the
perfect end to a wonderful day. Allan and Chris – if you’re reading this,
thanks so much for the best cave adventure!
Some crazy cave locations along the underground river: The
Cauldron, The Impassable Waterway, The Turbine, etc.
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