Trying to find Frodo and Gollum!
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
1
65
81
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Taupo,
New Zealand
Thursday, November 1, 2007
I had intended to leave Auckland on Friday but Craig thought it was ridiculous that I wasn't giving Auckland a chance and that they wouldn't get to really take me anywhere other than the weekend so I stayed a little longer! To be honest it was so great to see some familiar faces for a change and not have to go through the usual introductions that I really didn't mind sticking around. I was also very tempted to stay and work there for a while instead of Wellington but something was urging me to move on.
I had a great time with Craig and Kirsty though and they couldn't have been better hosts. I didn't have to pay for accommodation the whole time which allowed me to (over)spend on other luxuries I wouldn't have usually afforded! They took me to a pub quiz with their friends on Weds night, on Thursday night we went up to Mount Eden which overlooks the city (it's honestly massive!) and told me the story of how a few years ago some students put tyres in the there during the night and set them alight so when Auckland awoke in the morning everyone thought the volcano had erupted - it was on the news and everything! Great prank if you ask me! We had some chips up there before heading back to their brand new house they just bought last week to watch a movie.
On Friday I headed over to Waiheke Island which was just plain beautiful. I did a walk around the island which took about 4 hours and I somehow managed to end up trespassing on private property! Oops! I followed the track signs and I must admit I thought things were seeming a little overgrown for New Zealand's usual tracks but I kept going and ended up coming out in someone's back garden! No-one noticed though so it's not like I got shot or anything but I did feel a little guilty! I managed to sit and listen to a Tui forever - they make such interesting noises! After a much deserved ice cream I headed back to the ferry and the city of Auckland! I gave Craig and Kirsty the night off being as they haven't even really unpacked yet and entertained myself!
Saturday Craig and Kirsty came to pick me up and we headed out west (again, name escapes me but I'll find out!) to see their friends, Sarah and Adam. We had a lovely breakfast before going back to their house with their two gorgeous dogs (animals! Yey!) and spending the afternoon there. They also had horses so I had a quick horse ride - since getting kicked by that one at the temple I'm now extremely wary and this one was HUGE so I let everyone else have a go before me to make sure it was safe and then went on a little walk! Such fun! They also had quad bikes but we didn't get time to go on those! This wasn't all helping me to want to leave on Monday though! Craig cooked a lovely dinner and Kirsty a yummy desert (real food!) - possibly the best meal I've had in a very long time!
On Sunday I had a quick shop for new trousers. Not just one but two pairs of trousers ripped this past week rendering one pair totally unwearable and the other wearable for maybe another few times. If the weather would hurry up and change I'd have no problems 'cos I have plenty of warm weather stuff that I haven't even worn since Thailand - that would also make my bag lighter 'cos I could throw stuff out! I manged to find a new pair of combats so expect to see me in a slightly different outfit in the photos! How exciting (well, for me at least!)!!
Monday morning I bid them farewell and made my way to Waitomo. I was the only one staying over and I ended up with a whole Kiwi Experience bus in my hostel which was noisy to say the least - made me happy I'm not travelling with them though! I did the 'Waitomo Walkway' walk (about 4 hours return) and was literally the only person the whole way! It was great! I wondered over hills, through rocks, past numerous cows (I was oddly also wary of these!) and a duck with 9 (9!) ducklings and I can honestly say I felt like Frodo (in what I've seen of the first movie!)! I eventually arrived at the caves where there were more people thanks to the car park (cheaters!) and squeezed through some small tunnels and down into one of them but nothing had prepared me for the following days adventure!
At 9 I was picked up to start my 'Black Abyss' tour of the caves. After a huge effort to get into the wetsuit and jacket thing we made our way out the cave and practised a little abseiling. After instructing it and doing it in the US all that time I would hope I was fairly competent but it's been a while so the practise was welcome!
We then abseiled down about 35m through a tiny hole and down in the caves! It was hard to rambo style it down 'cos the walls were all slippy and the guy wouldn't give me enough slack so I had to go slowly but it was still great fun! We had to wait a while for everyone to get down and then we walked through with glow worms all around us to the zip line. We took that down in the pitch dark to the next ledge - it was a little short but only 'cos I love them! I was looking out for Gollum all over but unfortunately I couldn't find him!
We had a quick snack and warm drink (it was freezing!) before jumping into the ice cold water (how you can go from boiling hot water above ground to freezing water underground within a few hundred kilometres is beyond me!) and tubing up the lake. We sat under thousands of glow worms (which is actually maggot poo by the way!) and learnt all about them before drifting in the dark towards the waterfall stopping along the way for more snacks and hot drinks!
The underground waterfalls were probably the most challenging part of the trip! We had to climb up them without being tied into anything - injury alert! The guys told us where to put our hands and feet and stuff but climbing into fast falling water is no easy task! It was such an amazing feeling though. After the second waterfall we clambered up and made our way to daylight and back for bagels and soup! We were under the ground for about 3 hours in total and while we were freezing while down there it went by really fast!
I'd spoken to one of the guys a lot about the possiblity of working for them so I left all my details at the desk and am just waiting to hear from them - tomorrow at the earliest apparently. It would be such a fun job for 6 weeks or so but as I'm heading further south it's gonna get more and more expensive to get back up there so I might just have to try for something similar on the south island 'cos they have similar tours there too.
I moved on to Rotorua on Tuesday but I'd pretty much done everything I'd wanted to do there and I discovered my money was a lot lower than I'd first thought! I had planned to go to see the lions but the only way to get there is a shuttle which only gives you 2 hours there which didn't seem worth the extortionate rate! I looked into hiring a car as there were a few other things in the area I could've gone to see but that was very expensive too - I think the first time I've really regretted not having a car but it wasn't a huge deal! The hostel had a spa in the garden so I relaxed in that all evening - my muscles were killing me from caving! I'm far too unfit which I plan to rectify in Wellington!
Today it was on to Taupo where I was all excited about my skydive! We came down via Wai-o-tapu where we saw some huge bubbling mud pools, a geyser erupting (with help from some laundry powder which was a little disappointing!) and then into the park. There were some intriguing and beautiful sites there and the colours were stunning - I'll add some photos but they really don't show the acurate colours well at all!
Arriving in Taupo... apparently mum's prayers worked 'cos my sky dive got cancelled AGAIN thanks to the bad weather! It's supposed to be okay tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed but it does mean I have to stay another night when I hadn't planned to. The other down side is that the weather for the following days for the Tongariro Crossing is bad which means you can't go so I'll have to hang around somewhere either way. I'm not sure whether to stick here or move on to Turangi - it all depends on whether I can skydive tomorrow or not I suppose! I'm not moving until I can!!!
Not much else to update other than that but I think that'll do for now. Hopefully the next entry will be full of sky dive adventures (and photos/videos!) and long ass walks! Hope all is well with everyone!
