Drizzle, Adrenaline and Five Star Hostels
Trip Start
Mar 15, 2011
1
7
13
Trip End
Jun 08, 2011
Where I stayed
Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
I went on with Luke and Henry. We got slowly hoisted to the to the top of the tower which was approximately 40m high and looked alot higher when you got up there. One of us had to pull the cord and after a round of Rock, Paper, Scissors Henry was elected. We were counted down 3..2..1..and then the release rope was pulled. The first section was a free fall of about 10m, the ground came rushing towards us and that falling feeling in your stomach kicked in. Before we knew it we were swung forward narrowly missing the solid concrete floor below us. We got flung upwards with the annoyingly Englishesque New Zealand rain splashing on our face. Rain might ruin most things but as the instructors said you can make it sunny in your head and rain cant stop adrenaline. This ride gave us our first taste of a bungy, the freefall feeling but extended for alot longer. The biggest one in New Zealand is the Nevis in Queenstown which we unfortunately dont travel to as we are only staying on the North Island. This leaves us with the Taupo bungy which stands at 47m high, this is alot smaller than the Nevis which is 143m high! However the Taupo one over hangs the Waikato River so if we so desire we can be dipped into the crisp clear water below. We will see how we feel in Taupo.
After this we got back on the coach and headed to Waitomo.
Waitomo is a small village with one hostel, one bar and not even a shop. However it has one large attraction which cant be seen when you walk around the town. Beneath the ground is the largest cave network in the whole of Australasia covered with the unique little creature called the glow worm. We were offered a number of options to go down in the caves and see them ranging from viewing points, walks through the caves, floating through the under ground rivers or the one that we actually went for called ' The Black Abyss'. This was aimed for adrenaline junkies or those looking for a challenge, after only spending a week in NZ we naturally went for this one. It was the most expensive but for a 5 hour unique adventure it still worked out at less than £85 so we booked our places. We were supposed to go the afternoon we arrived in Waitomo but due to an overbooking it was cancelled giving us a nice wake up call the following moening of 6:30 am.
As the other group went that afternoon we went for a walk through a typical New Zealand forest. The landscape was crazy formed by the volcanoes that created the island the rock structure is random but crazily mesmeric. We walked through the forest overlooking fresh spring steams that flowed through the rock and the green tropical flora that surrounded us. Following the route we came to a place where we had the option to get into the water. In a typical English forest you would never dream of doing such a thing but with blue skies and a beaming sun it was the first thing on everyones mind. The water was still freezing cold but perfectly clear flowing through the volcanic rock. We followed the stream down a little to a huge cave mouth taking shelter under neath it. The temperature dropped quite a bit in this section but after the heat it was extremely refreshing. Walking a little further into the cave we saw a deeper pool of water still illuminated by the sunlight, after a little bit of thought and watching our bus driver dip into the water we soon decided it would be a 'good' idea to do the same. The water was freezing cold, but after we started going in there was no way we were going back. We finally made it in and sat there in a cave mouth with the sunlight glistening through the canopy of the forest, it was another one of those moments that justified all the hard work and organisation it took to get here.
After this we headed back to the hostel and made our first attempt at washing clothes. None of us knew what we were doing but it cant be that hard, surely? We flooded the laundry room floor and got our clothes washed free by the staff at the hostel. Whoops.
With an early start tomorrow we decided to go for a good nights sleep in the luxury of a single bed as opposed to squeaking bunk beds.
In the same freezing cold water for 8:30 am tomorrow.
Comments
Hey mat, loving all the extreme sports you're doing! Showed El your bungee on facebook and without prompting he said "that's amazing, see it again!' He just wants to watch all the videos again and again, think he's gonna be an adrenaline junkie like his uncle! Take care xx