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“after 2 hrs in the caves i couldn't feel my toes” |
Hello people,
So after we returned the space ship we stayed one more night in Auckland - nothing interesting happened, we basically washed our clothes and recovered from the claustrophobia of the space ship! We were up early the next day to start the magic bus and head off to Whitianga (pronounced Fiddyanger!). At 7:30 we were collected from the hostel and taken on a small tour of Auckland - actually pretty good because it was stuff we hadn't seen before! we went to the top of Mount Eden which is a volcano that overlooks the city - an awesome view! Then we settled in to the long drive to Fiddy! The magic bus is pretty cool -the drivers have a lot of knowledge about new zealand, especially the areas they cover. They chat to you on the way informing you of the bridges you cross, then valleys you drive through the local population and maori legends. I obviously listened intently to every word. Although i cannot remember any of it now! Sorry - because you hear sooo much information along the way it tends to float in to your head, register - and then acknowledged briefly, perhaps with a raised eye brow and a short "ooo" and then float out!
anyway.... the journey lasted about 7 hrs after stopping in a few places for food and pics etc...
The first place 'Thames' was a bit of a backward old mining town, where most of the people looked the same. Not very interesting really - just stopped here for lunch. The next place was much better.
Its called Cathedral Cove. You take a lovely scenic 30 minute walk along the coast and end up at a really pretty looking beach with waterfalls flowing off the cliff above and a huge cave that leads through to another hidden beach. The cave is call the 'cathedral' hence its name. We spend about 40 minutes chilling on the beach before walking back to the bus.
Next up was hot water beach... it gets its name because you can dig a whole at certain areas of the beach and because of the thermal activity underneath it fills with hot water that you can bath in. If i remember right its about 65 C (see something did stick!). i was really excited about this! So as we were approaching you can imagine my disappointment when we were told that it is only possible when the tide is out and that wont be until some horrible time in the morning and we were only able to look at it!! How rubbish is that! Pretty much the only reason i wanted to come to this area! oh Well... least i saw it!(sulk)!
After recovering from my disappointment we moved on and went to the hostel, about 30 min away. Not much to say about the town we stayed in, its nice but pretty small so we basically walked along the beach playing noughts and crosses in the sand and an occasional shell throwing contest (i won).
Next Day:
We started early and headed for Waitamo. This is an area with masses of underground cave networks. we had booked to do blackwater rafting here - i was pretty excited, had been looking forward to this for ages. The area itself is tiny... basically just the companies that do the rafting. we got there and were straight into out wet suits, still wet and cold form the group before us. Our guide - was the biggest man i have ever seen - pretty much a giant!check the picture! It did however offer some relief. If he could fit through the cracks and holes then i definitely could!
The water in the caves was bloody freezing! The guide like to play with us and pretty much gave us all a good dunking at the start.
It wasn't quite what i was expecting really - i assumed it would be quite fast action through rapids and water tunnels but it was actually a slower journey, linked up by our feet with the person in front and dragged through the tunnels in complete darkness. It was still really good fun and we did have a waterfall to jump down as well as a slide and quite a bit of swimming - so did include the action i was hungry for! It was sooo damn cold and after 2 hrs in the caves i couldn't feel my toes - when we got back to the ranch it took me half an hour to get my wet suit off because my fingers couldn't grip!!
All good fun though!
After, we got straight onto the bus and headed to Rotorua.
check out the next entry... XX
previous travel blog entry
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