Waitomo

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Waitomo itself is a very small place and people visit for one reason, to see the caves & resident glow worms! As it was such a small place, not much in the way of places to eat so had little choice but to cook for once so stopped of at supermarket before arriving to stock up on a few provisions! Stayed at the Kiwi Paka YHA, which has probably been one of the nicest hostels have stayed in during my trip. Arrived at Waitomo mid afternoon and after settling into the hostel we went for a nice walk down around the caves area which was a nice introduction to the area. Had a nice evening in Waitomo even if not the most happening of places! Had  nice bottle of New Zealand wine with my dinner and afterwards headed to pub which was literally next door. Went with a couple of people I had met on the bus who had also been to Uni in leicester but they'd gone to De Montfort rather than Leicester Uni but still had been to lot of same bars etc so was fun chatting with them!

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I'd signed up to the Labryinth Black Water Rafting (or tubing) as a way of seeing the caves so got picked up by the company who ran that at 8.15 in the morning. Once arrived at their HQ & had paid up we were given a bit of an intro talk on the morning's activities and then kitted up in wetsuits etc. Defintely not the most flattering attire! Before we were let loose in the caves with our rubber rings we had to practice one or two things outside to make sure we knew what to do! The main thing was that we had to jump off a small bridge backwards in our rubber rings making sure we landed on the rings and then be able to float down the stream in them! This was to simulate the jump we would be doing from a small waterfall inside the caves!  My attempt at the practice  was disastrous  although  somewhat comical in hindsight! I landed on my tube ok but went too far down the stream and couldn't get back! Found somewhere shallow enough to stand up but then my boot fell off! Had to hobble out the stream with only one boot on! Thankfully they were able to get me a replacement one! Luckily the actual tubing in the cave itself went much more smoothly! The morning in the caves pretty much involved walking through the caves, sometimes through quite small spaces and floating down through the water in the caves in the rubber rings!  The caves themselves were pitch black but we had lights on our hats to help us find our way! The only time we switched these off was to see the glow worms! To do this we all formed a chain and then floated along very slowly which was very relaxing! To say that the water in the caves was cold was a massive understatement! Have never been anywhere near that cold in my life! Was very glad of the shower and hot soup and bagel we were given on getting back from the caves!