Waitomo Caves

Waitomo Caves

Another amazing day!  We were lucky to find a good deal on line, but had to wait until 1:30 to begin our caving adventure.  So in order to kill time – hah! – nothing to do…  Anyway, we had a leisurely morning and I helped the guy in charge of the hostel feed the animals – pigs, cows, red deer, goats, sheep, a regular farm.  We then packed up and headed to town for breakfast.  There is a great hike leaving right from town so we did that.  It was part bush walk, part lookout, and part cave.  The cave was a natural bridge area and very beautiful.  After the hike, we went back into town and booked our passage to the south island for Sunday.  A little lunch – glad we did that, and off to the black water rafting.  

This was quite the caving trip.  We hiked (in wet suits and gum boots), climbed into the entrance, squeezed through a bunch of tight places, tubed in the water areas with lots of glowworms.  More squeezing and swimming and finally after about 3 ½ hours, we emerged to hike back to where we left all our clothes.  At about 5:30, we headed to National Park in order to get there by 8:00 where we have reservations.  I also booked us a round trip shuttle for the Tongoriro Alpine Crossing tomorrow.  We have a nice room, but not good wireless.  We went to a local place for dinner and then crashed!  All the stores were closed so we couldn’t get anything for breakfast for our crossing.  We’ll survive.  We still have some food left!