Bald Rabbits!
Trip Start
Sep 09, 2004
1
43
394
Trip End
Ongoing
Waitomo Caves,
New Zealand
Saturday, November 13, 2004
This morning, on the way to Haihei there was a stop off at Waitomo, one that I have been excited about now for a few days after reading a brochure of the many underground activities you can do there at the Waitomo caves. I had already decided I was going to take another deep breath and indulge in the all-action 'Ultimate Lost World' - a seven hour epic adventure including an initial 100m/300ft abseil which takes thirty minutes to descend down in to the depths of the dark underworld. I had read in the brochure that after descending, you head upstream, walking, swimming and climbing up waterfalls and cathedral-sized vaults. Apparently, you get to see fossil oysters and whalebones, as well as untold glowworms. I remember Nate excitedly telling me weeks ago that it's absolutely breath-taking. He reckoned if you look up you can see hundreds and thousands of glowworms that make you feel like you are looking into outer space, except the stars are a bright 'phosphorous green' colour. So as you can expect, I was quite excited.
Until I got up this morning. Absolute agony. I couldn't walk. Typical.
I had injured my feet quite nastily this week from surfing everyday, and had pretty much put up with the pain for the sake of getting in another days surf as I had enjoyed it so much. I went to bed last night assuming that my feet would be fine. How wrong could I be? I've completely worn the skin away from the tops and the insides of my feet. I did it the first day of surfing through gripping the back of the board and really should have let it dry and heal up the next day. Typically though, as I get stupidly excited about things, I went straight back in the next day and did it all over again. And then again - all week. So it's never had chance to heal, only get worse, and now I'm paying the price. I'd only been on the bus twenty minutes this morning and they started to throb, and I mean throb. 'Toni', a Canadian girl who was staying at the lodge, had given me some cream to put on this morning just before I left, and when I looked down the wound had started to sort of 'fuse' with the cream and was oozing and pumping out puss which had already started to run under the arch of my foot. It was really becoming quite painful and I could feel my pulse beating through the sides of my feet. They were swollen by this time and felt like watermelons. A right bloody nasty inconvenience.
So, I was quite cheesed-off when we arrived at the Waitomo Caves. I'd been looking forward to it for a while. Luckily, I will be returning at some point, so no harm done.
So I've got a few hours to kill. Which is good cos' it gives me some time to catch up with the travelogue and other things. At the moment I'm sitting in a lovely little courtyard full of orange and lemon trees, with a few tables and chairs dotted here and there that belong to the cafe inside. About ten minutes ago, I had a little walk up the road (as much as I could manage) and stumbled across a little place called 'The Shearing Shed'. Well I've heard of the popular sheep shearing here in New Zealand and was keen to see it with my own eyes, plus it was also free admission so I just walked right in. Much to my surprise though, I discovered it wasn't sheep that were being sheared at all - it was Rabbits. RABBITS! I couldn't believe it. Apparently they are shorn daily here at Waitomo - the only place in New Zealand that does, according to the sign outside. The rabbits in particular are the 'German Angora' variety that happen to have a hell of a lot of thick, soft hair. If they don't shear them regularly, they can overheat and die. It was really fascinating. All around the room were scarves, sweaters and other items of clothing that had been woven, coloured and made out of this Angora rabbit hair. My visit coincided perfectly with one of the shearing times as they were just about to 'do' one, so I stood and watched. It was really quite remarkable. Luckily, you were able to stroke the rabbit after it had got it's new 'look'. And it was sooo-so soft!
The weather once again is a real scorcher, and it's quite peaceful here under the shade of the lemon tree with the birds providing the background music. So for now I'll catch up on a bit of reading and writing, a quick stroll or two (in a fashion), a bite to eat and it'll be time to head East - to the Coromandel.
Kin feet!
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