The trip from Rotorua was one which I had been looking forward to because, I was going to the Waitomo Glowworm caves. After leaving Rotorua, our first stop was the Arapune Dam, which provided a lovely photo opportunity. Then, on the way to Waitomo, the activities list came round. I had just planned to visit the caves, but the driver, Greg, told us that afterwards we would have to wait for an hour and a half for the other, who would be doing other activities. That's when something else on the list caught my eye. Black water rafting. I had a debate with myself for a while before coming to the conclusion that i would probably never get another chance to do this, and I just went for it. We arrived into Waitomo and my debit card screamed as it had yet another $100 forcefully removed. We then headed to the hut to get our wetsuits and boots and (shock, horror). They actually had some that fit me. We got changed and put on our helmets before all struggling in our tight wetsuits to get into the minibuses. We all then held on for dear life as the minibuses thundered along the dirt tracks to the caves. On leaving the minibuses we had to walk across a farmers field to get to the cave mouth. If cows could talk I dread to think what they would have said about this strange looking force of aliens trudging across their field as if they had just messed in their pants. We posed for a group shot before being given our 'rafts', which turned out to be inner tubes from either a tractor or a lorry. We descended into the cave itself. We were given a safety briefing at the mouth of the cave, where we were warned about one thing. Cave Wetas (an insect resembling a large cricket). We were told that these lived in some parts of the cave and we would have to turn off our head torches at this point, or else they might swarm and be drawn to our torches, at which point they may land on the face of the person with the torch. I didn't need to be told twice. We were also told about the waterfall, which we would have to jump off backwards. I decided not to even try to think about that until we got there. We then headed off down the cave. We saw our fist glowworms before we reached the water, and we turned off our torches to see their magnificent glow. We tramped down util we reached water, and then we put on our inner tubes. As we wandered through the waters of the caves, we were told to grab the shoulder of the person in front with one hand and the wall with the other. We were then told to turn off our torches. We were in Weta territory. Further along the cave, and with our torches back on, we reached the waterfall. We were told to stand on the edge, hold the rubber ring onto our backsides and fall back. I got to the ledge an froze. The guide just pushed me off. I felt like a right tit when I reached the bottom with a splash only to discover that the waterfall was only 1 meter high! We were then organised into groups, and sat into our rings. The person in front had to grab the feet of the person behind and they had to grab the feet of the person behind them, and so on. I was th the back, and so I didn't have to grab anyone's feet. We then put our torches off again and started to float though the cave. it was amazing, an looking up is seemed as if we were viewing a night sky covered in galaxies of glowworm stars. I was glad that I had decided to tick the Black Water Rafting box. After a good twenty minutes of this floating we reached the last obstacle, the slide. That was fun. After trudging a few more meters down the caves we found the steps, and the exit. We took the minibus back to the hut and it was now even more fun (and dangerous) because our wetsuits were sliding all over the bench seating. We got showered and changed an headed back to the office to look at the pictures of ourselves and not buy them (well, they were too expensive) before getting back on the bus to Taupo. We stopped again on the way at Huka Falls, and I got some more pics. Finally we dropped off the skydivers before getting to our hostels. I walked up to pak 'n' save to get some shopping and then I got back to the hostel and made copious amounts of lunch and snacks for the next day. After that I had planned to go to the hot pools and soak before an early night, but that all changed when I saw the signs advertising a free poker tournament. I joined, and discovered that to be able to re-buy or to have a shot at the wildcard draw you had to buy drinks. Well, why not, I thought,a and I thoroughly enjoyed myself right before I got knocked out. I re-bought, and I got knocked out again. Low and behold, I then won the wildcard draw and ended up on the final table. I got knocked out again, finally, placing ninth, and I stayed to see who won before heading off to bed. So much for an early night.
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