Caves and Beaches Oh My!

(steve)

Still reeking of sulfur, we drove out to Waitomo for our date with the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company. These guys get paid to take folks through a variety of limestone caves in the area. When we got there we were faced with a choice of tours, the Black Abyss or the Black Labyrinth. I managed to convince Karen that we had to go on the 5 hour Abyss tour that included a rappel and zip line along with climbing out of the cave through a series of waterfalls. She was nervous, but willing to give it a go.

After getting all geared up in wetsuits, helmets, harnesses, etc. we drove to the cave and got down to it (photo in route from nice folks on tour with us). I ended up going first down the 100 ft rappel through a hole just large enough to fit a single person. Karen came down next and when I saw her smile I knew she was going to have a good day. Karen ended up ahead of me after that, making her first in line for the zip. The guide thought this was a good idea and sweetened the deal by stealing the battery for her headlamp. She was a trooper and I only heard one yelp as she swung out into pitch blackness. This cave was filled with glowworms and was magical to sit in. Imagine space mountain without the rollercoaster. After a quick drink of tea, we jumped down a 10 foot cliff into a subterranean river and floated the length of the cave on innertubes looking at glowworms. We had it explained that the glow was produced by the worms excreting to attract other insects as prey. Yeah worm shit! The finale of the tour involved climbing through 3 small waterfalls to the cave opening to sunlight. It was awesome and I'm only sorry that we couldn't take any photos to share. The rest of the day was mundane by comparison.




The next day we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula. Along the way we noticed that we had an extra day in our schedule thanks to our bad-ass walking. After looking through our books we found a nice 2 day walk that would suit us just fine. Bonus hiking! The walk was through a forest once populated with kauri trees, but sadly logged almost completely. Kauris are huge trees native to New Zealand and were used to make furniture. They now have a status here similar to the Sequoias in California (not too many left, and the most prominent have names). The trail to the hut was part of the logging road, and interesting descriptions of the effort it took to get the logs out were scattered along the way. The most common way to get logs out of the rugged hills was to create floods in the streams and wash the wood done. This technique involved building a series of dams and timing the release. It ended up working, but they damaged 20% of the logs in the process. We were able to see the remains of a dam near the hut we stayed at. There were also parts of a rail system used to move logs down a waterfall along the trail to look at. It was great to get another unexpected chance to walk in the forest, we'll miss it.



We also spent some time driving around the Peninsula to look at the great beaches. The area is a noted spot for Aucklanders to come on vacation since it's only 100 km away. We went to spots named Gemstone Beach, Cathedral Cove, and Hot Water Beach. Each was spectacular with turquoise water and lots of sand.

We threw in a little body surfing for good measure. We ended up being disappointed by Hot Water Beach in the end. This spot is known for the hot water that bubbles up through the sand during low tide. With a small hole in the ground, you get your very own jacuzzi free of charge. Unfortunately for us, the surf was big, leaving the thermal pools under a foot of water. It was very funny to see a lot of people standing together to warm their feet though.



It's hard to believe we only have one week left in New Zealand!