Black Water Rafting and Home

Yesterday was our Black Water Rafting trip through Waitomo Caves. This was probably the most adventurous thing yet, and getting into a wetsuit was every bit as humiliating as I had imagined it would be.

Waitomo Caves is about an hour southeast of Hamilton. The day started out gray and drizzly, so it was perfect that we had planned an indoor and underground activity for the day. After dropping off Pippa at the neighbors we headed out for Waitomo.

We got there with plenty of time to spare - we had booked the 11 am trip and we arrived shortly after 10. We signed some waiver forms and waited with the rest of the 8 people in our group. Turns out it was good we booked early because they had 5 people that were on the waitlist for this trip. So after everyone was together, the guides took us down to the changing rooms and explained how to get into the wetsuits. When we were all suited up (don't worry, pics are coming), we hopped in a van and rode to the caving site. Here we had a quick lesson in using the rope for our abseil descent into the caves, then it was right to it. First was the abseil, where we used the rope to descend about 100 feet into the cave. We had to squeeze through a kind of tight space right in the middle, but it didn't last long and I got through just fine.




When we got to the bottom we walked for a bit until we got to the flying fox, which was like a zipline except in the pitch dark. That was fun. Then we got our harnesses removed and were given an inner tube which we had to hold onto our butt and jump into the river below. Even though Megan and Kelsey didn't think I'd be able to do that without the tube escaping, I managed quite well. The surprising bit to me was that we went under water when we jumped from the pressure of the drop, and DAMN that water was COLD! Here's someone jumping, and I think it might be Jonathan:



Then we used a rope line to move ourselves through the water and we had various times of swimming, walking, tubing, going down waterfalls, walking up waterfalls and general caving stuff. When we came out we had hot showers, tomato soup and bagels. All in all, we were done in about 5 hours total, about 3 of which we had spent underground. It was lots of fun and a very memorable experience.

We got home last night tired and hungry so we went to Valentine's for our last dinner here...which was not our first choice. We were going to go to this restaurant called Hydro which was recommended in the guidebooks and was said to get very busy Saturday nights. However when we showed up at the ungodly hour of 6:45 pm, the restaurant was closed. It's tough to eat out in Hamilton, choices seem mostly fast food like KFC or McDonalds or other local Takeaway places, but actual sit down restaurants are few. So when we spotted Valentines, open and actually full, we jumped. Turns out it's a pricey buffet restaurant with mediocre food but plenty of it. Although normally they only do two seatings a night, like a cruise, they let us squeeze in the first seating that was halfway over. The only downside to this was that they don't apparently replenish dishes until the next seating so we missed out on some stuff :-)

Today we're up early and heading to Auckland to bum around before our flight. We've had a lovely time and New Zealand is every bit as scenic and beaufiful as promised. The people we've met have been friendly and wonderful to talk to, and it's been great seeing Jonathan. Jay and I are both ready to get home though I think and see the girls and the beagles and our own lovely city for the last of the summer. I'll post lots of pics when we get home, but it takes so long here just to upload one that you're lucky you got that one! Next post from the states.