Toobin' in Waitomo

Toobin' underground!
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Waitomo was gooooooooood.  We got the bus Hamilton to Otorohanga, then got the wee taxi service by Bill to Waitomo.  He was lovely and explained lots about the history of the area; kind of a taxi tourist service thing.  Apparently he's nearly going out of business because of all o' the tourist bus companies (Kiwi Experience, etc) so if you're travelling through, look him up!

Arrived in the teeny, tiny Waitomo and picked the Juno Hall Lodge to stay in.  Very comfy place, had the dorm to ourselves and there was a massive log fire in the living room.  Dumped our stuff and walked in to Waitomo, successfully managing to get SOAKED by the rain that started right after we left...typical!  Stopped in at the shearing shed where they shear....rabbits!  Massive fat angora rabbits that have to get sheared every 3 months & their wool is used to make all manner of socks, jumpers & what not- very random!  The nice wee ladies who worked there took one out to show us, and it looked permanently pissed off, obviously tired of silly gawking tourists who keep calling it cute!  Nich got some serious knitting chat on the go whilst I tried to nod and look interested, and she was eventually sucked in and bought some fetching wool to knit her own pair of socks.

Nich got some serious knitting chat on the go whilst I nodded and tried to look interested

Pothole Jo
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We then went to the information center, or I-Site, which was immensely helpful- the girl helped us choose a black water rafting trip (we settled on the Black Water Rafting Co. one) and even booked a hostel for us the following day- thank ye Catherine!  We then hit the local pub "Curly's" for some grub and a pinty-  discovered that my favourite beer here so far is Black Mac by Macs Brewery- a very tasty dark beer...*drool*

Rose the next day to peeing rain again & discovered that our rafting trip had been cancelled due to dangerously high water levels in the cave.  Luckily we went back to the I-site and got on the only remaining trip that was still operating that day, which was by Black Magic by Caveworld.  And it was BEASTLY, owed to by the vast rainfall over the past few days!

We met the guide and the other 10 cavers at the main office where we were driven to the equipment lodge (a hilarious 200m down the road) and give our gear to change in to- a wetsuit, some white gumboots and a helmet with headlamp.  After much pushing and squeezing we were good to go  (N with flattened boobies, and I at least didn't have to worry about the boys disappearing in the cold water, as they were that compressed anyhoo!), and reached the cave entrance after a trek through a cow-pat field and selected our "toobs" of choice.  We descended about 80-100m in to the deep, dark tunnels beneath the earth, and the next 1 and 1/2 hrs was AMAZING!  We saw glowworm galaxies, floated through deep & tranquil waterways to fast flowing rapids where the water was so shallow we had to hold the tubes to our chests and zip through the caverns!  There was a waterfall that we had to dive off of backwards (wasn't nearly as terrifying as it sounded from a distance), and also a long water slide which Nichola SCREAMED when going down it! Ha! (although she maintains she never).

Following the excitement, we got taken back to the gear shack where we got hot soup & showers, and bought a photo CD of the experience featuring some corking action-poses by Nich! Haha!

Later we headed to our next lodgings in Waitomo which was a wee shared house at Rap, Raft & Rock where we rounded off the day's mayhem with a lazy night watching movies & chatting to our Chinese and Taiwanese housemates.

Next up, the volvcanic hot pools of Rotorua...