On Monday we drove out to the 'Elevation Cafe' to the west of Auckland towards the Waitaki range where the canyon was. We had arranged to be picked up from there rather than the city centre. They guy turned up in his van a little late, as he had been waiting for another couple in the city who had not turned up, so it was just the two of us! Our guide Neil drove us to their base to get suited up in what seems like our usual attire lately, the wetsuit, booties and helmet! We also had some croc like shoes and a harness to wear. We both had to carry a backpack with all of this in, which was quite heavy, as the walk up to the top was about 30 mins, and easier not wearing your gear! The recent rain had made it a terrible path, that was awfully muddy and although the croc shoes were ace for gripping on rocks etc, they were terrible for the slippery mud! It took us a while to get up, and we both fell on our asses a few times! 
We got to the top and put all our gear on ready. Neil asked us to pose 'extreme' for the beginning of our adventure, so here is is!!! We began by walking down a river and coming to one of many waterfalls that we jumped off! Some we 
could 'freestyle' and others were to be done rather specifically for safety. I always adopted the nose holding pose regardless, where as Ben was much more adventurous! It was a huge feat in itself just for me to jump off some of them, I don't like going under water at all, and it's kind of inevitable! This was the group jump, but since it was just Ben and I making up 'the group', it was just the two of us! The jumps were great, and we did so many that in the end I wasn't too scared. It was bit nerve racking to do the 'controlled' ones, as I was worried I wouldn't land in the right place, or 'miss that massive rock there'!!! but managaed ok!
We made our way down the river, walking was difficult as the bottom was so uneven, so we took a tumble many a time! The pic is of me having fallen already, and then Ben taking a tumble right behind me! We also went down some natural water slides, down a 
waterfall! The first one we did looked like great fun, until he said we had to go down head first on our backs as it was safest! So we trusted our guide, though I always sent Ben down first! You can just about see Ben's feet here at the bottom of the slide! The next big challenge was a huge 30 metre abseil down a waterfall! It looked pretty scary and I must admit I was a little reluctant! Ben went first and 
was all done in about 8 mins, so I reasoned to myself that no matter how bad it was it would be over quite quickly, and I was attached to a safety line, so I was safe. It was a bit different to the cave where I sort of just lowered myself down, for this I had to keep my legs out straight and actually walk myself down, and then through a 
waterfall! It was so nice to be at the bottom when it was all done, but I was really proud of myself!
Getting on the plane for Fiji right now, so will have to finish this one off another time! Bye for a while, no internet in the middle of nowhere!
Back again! After two weeks in Fiji visiting four of the beautiful islands we are now in Hawaii and I can post the blogs that I wrote while we were there! Here's the end of our canyoning adventure!
We stopped for lunch and I did get a bit cold at that point, but was ok again once we got moving!
We did a few more jumps, one off a particularly high rock face, which was a bit daunting! Somehow I managed to land bottom first with my legs out in front of me, which made an almighty sound according to Ben, and stung my leg really bad! I came up and Ben was looking quite concerned, then to add insult to injury I had a bloody nose! We later figured out that I had gouged a piece of skin off when holding my nose for the jump, it bled for ages! We later saw I also had a whopper of a bruise on the back of my leg! We did another sort of abseil where 
Neil did all the rope work and we just walked down the wall, can you believe it was on this one that I slipped, lost my footing, banged against the wall, and was subsequently lowered down like a winch! All in all we did 2 long abseils, one kind of abseil, lots and lots of jumping off waterfalls and had lots of fun! I felt pushed to the brink again most o
f the day, but I must admit things got easier as the day went on, and I even slightly enjoyed the last abseil as Neil told me my technique was excellent! We had a long walk up, up and more up to get back to the van, which was exhausting after the day we’d had! I was so glad to see the van, and then it was just a ten minute ride back to our van, and then 20 mins back to the campsite. The hot shower was so welcome at that point!
We had a quick turn around, ready to go back out again for a nice meal! Ben had won a $100 voucher from Jucy for a posh restaurant in Auckland while we’d been Australia, so we’d been waiting to use it. We were going to use it on our last night, but they were doing some fancy and expensive wine night, so we opted for Monday instead. We found the Jucy hotel to pick up the voucher, and after an initial ‘we don’t know what you’re talking about’ moment, the voucher was located and the restaurant was just down the road. It was very nice indeed, and we had a lovely meal, splashing out for starters, mains and dessert adding a bit of extra cash to the voucher. I started with duck liver parfait with a lovely chutney and crustini, while Ben had a venison dish with kumara mash (not sure what kumara mash is, but he really liked it, even though he’s not a fan of mash!). Then we both had duck leg and truffled mash which was yummy. I then had pear and date sticky pudding, while Ben had the chocolate torte with chocolate sorbet. It was so nice to sit in nice surroundings and have dinner bought to us, not have to wash up in the camp kitchen etc! What a treat!
The next day was spent sorting and packing! We made sure we had everything we needed for Fiji, taking a last trip to the ‘Warehouse’ shop to see if we could find flippers for Ben, however we were unsuccessful. We then got our big bags down which had been stored up on the top bed in the van for the whole 5 weeks, and some of the clothes were a bit damp, so I did a big load of washing, and aired some things in the sunshine. We both repacked our bags and cursed how much stuff we had! We decided to leave behind our sleeping bags and gloves and scarves etc we had bought, hoping not to need them again! We were all packed up and had a relaxing evening, Ben did lamb chops for dinner while I cooked the nearest thing to chips we could make, shallow fried slices of potato!
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
00:36
On Saturday we drove back down to Whangarai and stayed at the same cam
psite. Luckily this time the weather was much kinder to us! Ben insisted since it was Saturday and our last weekend before Fiji, we should get a McDonalds, so we did! Then we went to the waterfall on the outskirt of the city which was one of the prettiest ones we have 
been to that you can get quite close to. You can stand right at the top of it, and then walk down to the bottom. It is a poplar place to swim in the summer, but it was a bit cold even for Ben! He did however, climb over all the rocks and make his way towards the waterfall, planning on going behind it, but he was unable to go any further. Then we drove to the waterfront of the town, parked the car and walked along by all the little shops by the harbour. It was so sunny and lovely, a little like the Barbican. We bought some cider and went back to sit in the sunshine at the campsite, I read my book while Ben played on the computer, what a lovely way to spend the afternoon!
On Sunday we had arranged to go for lunch at the Gillan's, a family we went on summer holidays with for years before they moved out to NZ nearly six years ago. They were doing a lovely family roast, as Olivia's fiance Rupert was going back to the Naval base later that day. 
Obviously Julie and Gordon were there, and so were Alex and his wife Sarah, and Olivia and Rupert, it was just Avril missing who's away at Uni in Wellington and loving it! We had a really lovely time catching up, eating a yummy meal and then going out for a walk around Devonport (a suburb of Auckland) where they live! It's right by the sea, and right opposite the city centre, so has great views. We went back for a cup of tea and a cuddle with all the kittens! They are fostering lots (about 8 I think) kittens, and they are super cute! They also have a very well behaved dog who was lovely, and two cats they bought with them from England! Ben had taken an antihisthamene and was fine which is good news for Oscar, Carol and Mikes new cat back home! We didn't leave until about 6.30pm, managed to find the campsite we had booked which was in a great position for canyoning the next day, and the airport on Wednesday. Had an early night ready for our last big adventure of NZ!
On Wednesday we got up to drive to Whangarei (pronounced with an F!), I felt so stiff and achey and then remembered the rafting and sledging and it all made sense! The drive there was pretty wet and miserable, as was the rest of the day! We decided it would be a good 'sorting day', getting any bits and bobs we needed for Fiji and planning and booking the USA leg of our trip. We were able to book all our greyhound tickets to Vancouver, San Francisco and LA and Vegas, and most of our accomodation, which was brilliant! Since it was raining it was a good use of our time, and meant it was nearly all booked! In the evening we watched the final Lord of the Rings, and although we watched them out of order I did enjoy them more this time around, but mostly because we had been to The Shire, and it was all NZ scenery!
The next morning we drove to Kaitaia which is the best base for the Cape Reinga tours. We stopped for lunch at a little beach, but had to stay in the van and look at the nice view as it started to rain! Thankfully the weather improved for the afternoon! Cape Reinga is the most northely peninsula, and is also where you can see the meeting of the Tasman and Pacific seas. It is a sacred place for the Maori's as they believe all spirits leave NZ from Cape Reinga to return to Hawaiki (where they come from). We were booked on a day trip the next day. We arrived and got a campsite in Ahipara nearby which was almost on the beach. Had a lovely walk down to the beach in the sunshine which shone for us! Then we enjoyed chips (from the chippy!) and lamb chops for tea, Mmmm!
Had an early start to be at the bus tour place for 8.45am where we 
met Robin our tour guide and the other 8 people on the trip. In the height of their summer season they can have three 50 seater buses a day running, so we were quite a small group! The trip is about a 250 km round trip, going up 90 mile beach, and then down the road back again, stopping off at 
picturesque spots and enjoying the views. 90 mile beach is actually only about 70 miles long, but still very impressive none-the-less! It is a highway, and all road rules apply, we were only in a two wheel drive bus, but the sand is not soft, so it can manage it. At one point we drove up a stream that ran down the beach, and went off road to reach a massive sand dune. The guide had t
obogans for us to ride down the sand dune which looked great fun! They were tobogans to sit in, which didn't look as fun as the other group who'd got there first who were going head first on body boards, but it still looked good! The worst bit was c
limbing up the sand, it was really high and hard work!!! Eventually we got up to the top and I went first, it was great fun whizzing down, but the sand had been roughed up a bit from the people before, which made the ride at the end quite bumpy, and then I flew out rolled over a few times, got a face full of sand, and later even found sand in my knickers! We had a nice stop for lunch down on a little beach, and we got chatting to the other people on the trip, 3 old couples, and then a young couple like us who were travelling lots. We got
to Cape Reinga, the tip of the peninsula, and went for a walk to the lighthouse at the 
end, and to look at where the Pacific meets the Tasman sea, you can see them crashing against each other. We the started to head back down the peninsula, this time via the road, and Robin pointed out anything interesting and explained all the crops that were growing etc. We stopped at a little place for a large ice-cream, and we remembered it had been a long while since we'd had ice-cream! It was so warm on the bus that we both had a little snooze as well, then we were back at the Kauri tree shop for Robin to wash off the bus. The native New Zealand tree grows absolutely huge, some are 1500 years old! However, it was
running out as it had been over logged, so they have now started dragging out old preserved Kauri trees from swamp land, that have been perfectly preserved for 30 - 50,000 years! The shop has some beautiful stuff, including furniture, but it is very expensive! There is also a staircase hollowed out of a huge one leading up to a gallery, it is so strange being inside the tree, it is beautiful! After the bus had been washed we were dropped back at the base. We picked up the van and stayed in a campsite a closer to the main road ready for the next day's drive back south.
So, the next morning we got up bright and early to go sledging! We had not seen or heard of white water sledging before we got to New Zealand, but as we seem to be trying everything out here, it could not be missed! We also got a great deal from Jucy so that helped! We knew a couple from the rafting were also coming sledging, so there would be four of us, and then there was also a group of rafters getting ready. We got suited and booted again, although this time with a wetsuit jacket as well to add another layer! 
On the bus we had another safety talk, this one even more scarier than the rafting! She basically told us that we had to sledge under and through the waves, not over them, and we would be going under a lot! This terrifed me, I do not like going under water, and I am not the strongest of swimmers, so not really sure why I was doing it, but it was too late to back out!!! They told us the signals they would use, and what to do etc, and then we arrived at our drop off. The bus continued to the drop off for the rafters and left the four of us, with two instructors and our sledges! Our female guide called herself Jedeye, and our guy was called Joel. Jedeye got us to sit on a grassy bank while she showed us what to do if we got tumbled by a rapid. The first rule was NEVER let go of your raft! Bascially we had to extend our arms and roll back out of the water, she made it look easy! Then she showed us plan B, if we had gone under and the raft was on top of us, we had to push it to our feet, wedge it in our bellies, then flip ourselves up and over! At the time I remember thinking I will never remember all this in a panic situation, I am so going to mess this up!!! We climbed down to the waters edge, and she said a Maori prayer before we got into the water. This was when we saw the aftermath of the rafters who had capsized on the river! After they got sorted and on their way, we got in and had to practise our rolls. Just before we got in I felt like crying I was so nervous. I looked at Ben and he knew I was close to tears! However, I took a deep breath and 
got on with it! We jumped in and had to swim over to an 'eddy' (an area of still water on the side to regroup in!) practising our rolls on our way. I did both of mine right first time, got to the eddy and felt way better about it all!! The other girl struggled with the rolls, so Jedeye kept her close at all times, I must admit I felt good that I was doing ok as it's usually me being supervised! We headed down for the first rapid, staying close together, listening to the 
instructions, and trying to remember it all! Basically you have to move up the sledge, turn your head to one side and go straight down the middle. I did it all, but the rapid chewed me up and spat me out the other side, it was crazy! I had to employ my rolls to get myself righted, but it is amazing how naturally they come, and although I was terrified I would not remember it all, I did, and managed to get myself sorted! 
We all headed for the eddy on the right, regrouping and catching our breath! It was mental! On the next one I slid higher up my board and this made a real difference, I managed to stay on top the whole way and did not get churned up by the rapid! It was great! Once we got the hang of it it became much more fun, still scary and thrilling, but fun too! At one rapid they asked if we wanted to go a bit more extreme, which me and the other girl did not, but Ben and the bloke did, so they went down the left side of the rapid instead of the middle! At the bottom Ben got caught up in a whirlpool and strugged to get out and across to the eddy, but he made it in the end! We did a few more rapids which became more and more fun as we became more confident! Then at the last one we had the oportunity to 'surf'
the waves, bascially heading up stream against the wave and staying there 'surfing' it for as long as we could! Ben went in first and managed a really good run, staying there for ages before he got flipped out and sent downstream! Then the other guy had a go but was a lot less successful, being churned up and sent packing straight away! He had another go and surfed for a few 
seconds, but Ben had made it look easier than it was! The other girl did not want to have a go, and I almost chickened out but decided I had to! Jedeye helped me position myself and then let me go, and I surfed it for a good few seconds before it churned me out! Ben went in for a second go, but wasn't so lucky that time! Then it was time to get out and head back. We were absolutely shattered!!! We got back to the base and had to buy the pictures of course!
We couldn't stop and rest after all the excitment as we had to drive north as we were running out of time to get everything done! We had decided to pop into 'Hobbiton' as it was on our way! Hobbiton is in a place called Mata mata, and for those that don't know it is where the Shire scenes were shot for The Lord of the Rings! We signed up for the tour and had a quick lunch in the van. The tour bus came to pick us, and about 10 other people up. Our guide was a lovely lady, who told us all sorts of interesting facts about the filming, and how it took place etc. The shire was built on a farm, and was to be dismantled after filming and returned to normal, however, bad weather meant they stopped dismantling half way through. People came to ask the owners if they could look around, so they requested that the set was left and they could run tours. It took 2 years to grant the permision, but they were allowed, and the set has now be restored completely with additions ready for the filming of The Hobbit. We are not allowed to post any photos until the last film has been released, so will put up the photos in a couple of years!!! It was really funny being in 'The Shire' and we were allowed to get up close to all the little houses and walk up the road that leads up to Bilbo Baggins' house! Once the tour was over we headed back to the cafe place and were shown a sheep shearing demonstration which was really interesting. He was so quick and the sheep seemed really compliant and not distressed which was nice. We got to feel the sheep afterwards and it was surprisingly greasy! Then we headed outside and four baby lambs ran out to greet us! What they really wanted was the bottles of milk we were given to feed them! It was so cute! They were so happy and jolly! We also got to have a cuddle with them, they were only four weeks old and very cute!
We got in the van and were supposed to head to 'hot water beach' which is up the Coromandel Peninsula, where you can rent a spade and dig a hole on the beach which fills with hot water! However, you can only do this at low tide, which was at 6.30am, or 6.30pm which meant a very very early morning and nowhere to rent a spade, or in the dark, which didn't sound much fun either, so we bypassed that! Instead we decided to drive up the northern tip towards Auckland. We had a buy one get free voucher for a tour to the very north at Cape Reinga, so we were heading for that eventually. Got to a campsite just south of Auckland for the night and went to see if the office had the first Lord of the Rings for rent as we wanted to see The Shire having visited! Luckily they did, and lent it to us for free, so we enjoyed seeing it all on the screen and saying 'we stood there!' etc!!!
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
23:08
On Monday morning we had been told to call the rafting company at 8.30am to see if they were running again, so we got up and were ready to go by 8.30am apart from breakfast (if it wasn’t on we were going to have a fry up!). So I called and they said it was on, could we be there by 9am, which was a bit different to the 9.30 than they had told us, and we were about 25 mins drive away, so we were cutting it a bit fine! However, it all worked out ok, they said come at 12.30 instead. So then we had an unexpected morning with not a lot to do, so had a yummy fry up breakfast and lazed around!
We got to the raft place and met everyone, there was a big group of people who worked together, and then a few couples like us. They asked us if we could sledge in the morning, rather than after the rafting as they were going to flood the river at 4pm and we would be a bit rushed, which suited us fine, and meant we could enjoy each experience separately! We got kitted out in wetsuits and booties, life jackets and helmets and then jumped on the bus to get to the river. They gave us some safety instructions on the bus, which always seem to frighten me more, I guess it’s thinking about worst case scenarios! There were three rafts for us, so we carried them down, split into three groups and got in! They are a Maori company and said a Maori prayer as the river is a very important place in Maori culture Our guide Sam was great, although liked to liven up his day by soaking people and pushing them in! He yelled out the basic instructions of what we had to do, paddle forward, or backward, stop, or get in, and showed us where to put our feet to wedge ourselves in for the waterfall! We had waited to do white water rafting in Roturua as we had read that it was the best, and this particular river has the highest raftable waterfall in the world, a 7 metre drop which we thought would be rather thrilling!! We had a practice run on a small rapid, Sam pulled one of the blokes from another boat into the water, which was funny, and then away we went! We went down a 2 metre waterfall 
as a kind of practice run, which was scary enough! The rapids were great fun, and then we came to a stop at the bank of the river, to wait for our turn on the waterfall. There was another raft waiting, and the first one had gone. They tell you that you can get out and climb up the bank and meet on the other side if you don’t want to do it, but no one got 
out, so the guy said another Maori prayer, and off we went. At this point it is safe to say we were all pretty terrified! So, we paddle to the edge, and get down and wedge ourselves in, and brace for it! He had told us to look up, and then tuck our faces down at the last minute, but as you can see from the pics me and a few others put our heads down straight away! I am sat right behind Ben, who you can see was also a little worried going over the edge!!! I cannot really describe what happened then, just a LOT 
of water, we went right under, and then bobbed back upagain, me minus an oar! I felt myself lose my grip on it while in the middle of the waterfall and had no hope of holding on, so thankfully the safety kayaker retrieved it for me when it bobbed out of the waterfall quite a few seconds later! We all regained our composure and had a group photo, 
which I think shows how ecstatic we were that we survived, particularly Ben!!! The next day when we went sledging we got into the river at the bottom of the waterfall and were just in time to see a group come down, and capsize! It was complete carnage! The boat was upside down, there were people floating down the river, one swimming towards us on the bank, our guide told him to go back to the boat and he looked so forlorn, he just wanted to save himself and get to the bank, but the right thing to do is go back to the boat, so off he went! There were oars floating off, the two guides were trying to flip the boat upright, and then a girl popped out of the waterfall, she had been swishing around in that for a while! They tell you to curl into a small ball if you are in the waterfall, as it will keep you circling in there if you fight it, bobbing up, round and pushing you back down like a giant washing machine. I spoke to her afterwards, and she said it took her a while to realised that she was in the waterfall, but once she curled up she popped out, but she was pretty scared! I am so grateful it did not happen to us, it looked absolutely terrifying! So, back to our experience, we were all overjoyed we had made it to the bottom of the waterfall! We hot a few more rapids, and he soaked us again at the front of the boat! 
Then he told us if we wanted to have a swim, now would be a good time. Ben and another guy took him up and jumped out! They were merrily cruising along, when I looked ahead and saw a rapid coming up, yelled at Ben and he started to swim towards the boat looking a bit wary! He did not get to us in time to get into the boat, so Sam was telling him to hold onto the rope on the side of the boat and go down feet first! I was a little concerned about this! Ben said he was more concerned about getting caught under the boat, and it smashing him against a rock which would not have been fun! He made it down the rapid fine and continued to swim around. Then Sam our guide got a bit frantic as we neared the next rapid, yelling at him to get in as we got closed! You can tell by the volume and waving of arms that is was not a good idea to be swimming down this one! Ben got close to the boat and Sam dragged him in by his life jacket, hauling him in just in time!!! Hit a few more rapids, got a bit wetter, and then it was all over, far too quickly! Because of all the rain that meant we could not raft the day before, the journey down was ultra fast, only about 30 mins, when it normally takes 50! I was gutted it was all over as I was just beginning to enjoy myslef and not be so worried! However, we had sledging to look forward to the next day! Needless to say we were both pretty tired that evening!
On Sunday we had a very very lazy morning doing not a lot which was nice! We decided we ought to do something with the day and so after lunch we went for a nice long walk around the Blue Lake near Rotorua. It was nowhere near as blue as the Blue Lake in Mount Gambier, but nothing will ever compare to that! It was a good 2 hour walk all the way around it which stretched our legs and burnt a few calories! Once we had done some shopping on the way back, we had a bit of time for a nice cup of tea before being picked up for our Maori culture night. There were lots of companies to choose from for a Maori night all offering a show and a traditional meal (Hangi), so we had asked at the information centre about the main differences as they give imparial advice. We ruled out the ones running in hotels, as we wanted a more authentic experience, with a mock up Maori village etc, so there were two main ones to choose from. In the end we went for the one she said was more educational and she learnt more from as that was what I was interested in, and they also won the major competition for Maori dance and performance in the whole of New Zealand this year, so we felt they were the best choice. The bus picked us up at about 6pm and took us along to the site about 15 minutes away. When we got there there were lots of tables of about 10 set up in a marquee, which was a little worrying as we hadn't wanted to sit at a big table eating and watching like in the hotels, but it was fine, as there was no stage! We sat down and were introduced to our host, Jerry, who told us what would be happening etc. He told us we had to elect a chief, which he tactfully did, and then we had t
o learn a song to sing when we met the tribe! We then went to watch our meal being dug up! the traditional Maori meal of Hangi was cooked underground for hours. Ben was chosen to lift the sackcloth off the feast, which looked and smelt delicious! Then we were all led down to the sacred stream to see the warriors arrive in the canoe. It was very atmospheric, as it was dark with only fire stakes in the ground casting shadows. Then we heard them before we could 
see them. They came down the stream shouting and chanting, it was spine chilling! Then we were led to the 'village' area, which is actually on the site of a real Maori village. It was a kind of stage area and a seating area, but all out doors and it felt like being a fly on the wall in an ancient village! The tribe sang to us, which was just magical, and then the chief welcomed us in Maori. It was then our chief's turn to speak
and thank him and then we had to sing, which was a little less tuneful! Then the chief told us about some customs and songs, and the tribe sang to us, showed us some dances that taught different things, and showed us some weapons. We learnt about the tatoos on their faces, four birds with meanings, and the use of the Poi. The hour went far too quickly, it was brilliant! The grand finale was of course the Haka, which really did give me goose pimples! It 
was fantastic! I can totally see why they did it to psych themselves up for battle and to scare their oposition! After that we were taken back to the marquee for our Hangi feast. This is where the evening began to go a bit funny! The food was amazing, and there was loads of it! The meat, chicken and lamb, was so tender and jucy, and had a really smokey flavour, as did the potatoes and sweet potatoes! However, the music playing did not really fit! They played a CD that was more fitting to a lift in Marks and Sparks or something, it had 'When the Saints come marching in' among other Maori classics! It kind of spoilt it a bit. I could have lived with this, had the rest of the evening not unfolded so! When most people had finished eating and were drinking teas and coffees, our host Jerry told us each table had to sing a song to entertain the group. I thought he was joking, but he was not! It was awful and cringe worthy, and made everyone feel really uncomfortable and silly. We had all paid quite a bit for the night, and were not expecting to have to get up in front of people and sing! He picked a table at a time, and said in the nine years he's been doing it, no table had let him down, as you can imagine lots of people felt really uncomfortable, and tried to refuse politely, but he wouldn't let them, it was really cringey! Eventually one brave sould from the first table managed to sing the Aussie national anthem which was ok. Then after trying to refuse, someone off the next table sang somehing. Then our table was picked, it was awful! Two of the girls had very conveniently gone for a fag, then there was me and Ben, another couple, one other girl and a German couple! Thankfully GGerry picked on the bloke from the other couple and got him up to the mic, but he really wasn't game and avoided doing anything, so his girlfriend started 'Twinkle twinkle' which was all joined in and that got us off the hook. It was a really odd part of the evening, and frankly I thought it was terrible. We had all paid quite a lot for a Maori evening, and that was nothing to do with Maori, and not a lot of people's idea of fun! Oh well, it was another experience! After all the embarrassment was over we went on a bush walk with torches down to the water again to see the glow-worms and the spring. It was so weird to see the gravel at the bottom swirling around where water was springing out of the ground!!! After that we were bused back to the campsite and had a great skype chat with Carol and Mike! Then it was bed time ready for rafting in the morning!
We got up on Saturday and drove back towards where we came from the day before, but a bit more northerly, to Rotorua. You can smell Rotorua before you see it! It is a very activer geothermal area, and the smell of sulpher (or rotten eggs!) fills the air! It takes some getting used to! We got there just in time for lunch, and Ben spied the Golden Arches! I made a deal with him that if her had no more fast food in the south island (for last two weeks) he could have a Big Mac in the north island, so he decided to cash in his Big Mac. They had a special deal called a 'Mac Attack' which Ben took full advantage of as it was two Big Macs with chips and a coke!!! What a cheek! We then headed to the information centre to book the white water rafting which is a speciality here in Rotorua, as well as a Maori culture evening, and a visit to the mud baths at Hell's Gate! Sadly we couldn't book the white water rafting for Sunday as the river was closed to rafting due to the large amounts of rain, and it was too dangerous! So, we booked our Maori night for Sunday, and our Mud Bath for the evening! The lady was really helpful and told us 4pm was a good time to go, as there is an hours walk around the geothermal area, finished up with a mud bath and then a dip in the sulpher pool! So we found the campsite and booked in, 3 nights for the price of 2 which was fab, and then headed to Hell's Gate! The walk takes you around a 
landscape that looks like that of another planet! Water bubbles at the surface, steam rising all around, the stink of eggs in the air, and boiling mud! It is very strange! George Bernard Shaw named the area Hell's Gate as he thought it was the closest thing to Hell on earth. We also 
saw a mud volcano, standing 2 metres tall, with with boiling spurting mud at the top, which was pretty cool! We also saw the only hot waterfall in the southern hemisphere which we would have loved to shower under, but you're not allowed! We finished the walk and headed to have
our mud bath. We were told to take any jewellery off and change etc, then taken to a rectangular bath filled with muddy grey looking water. The mud is very very fine, so it's watery and there's lots of thick gloopy mud at the bottom! So we set about covering ourselves in the thick 
gloopy mud from the bottom which was fun! It was just like those mud face packs I have used before! We were allowed to put it on up to our cheek bones, but Ben didn't listen properly and covered his head, ending up looking like Mr T! He washed it off too quickly to take a photo! We had twenty minutes in the mud bath which was lovely and warm, we exfoliated well and enjoyed the experience! Half way through Ben told me I had my earrings on
, which was rather silly as I had thought to myself that I definitely had no jewellery on earlier, and they were turning black!!! Oh well, they have a new look now! We had to have a cold shower to rinse off the mud and then we could go in the sulpher pool for as long as we liked. It was lovely and warm, just very stinky!! We enjoyed a good half hour before getting out and showering, trying our best to get the stink off us! We wondered if our swimmers would ever be the same again, they were particularly grey looking! However our skin was extremely soft and lovely which was nice! I put our cossies straight in the washing machine when we got back, but they still had a distinct eggy smell to them!
The next day we drove to Waitomo and went to the information centre to find out about the caving options. We got there about 12.30, and
found out we could go on the 2pm trip, so had a very quick lunch, found a campsite and got ourselves down to the cave trip centre! I was feeling a bit nervous about this as I did not want to do any squeezing through tiny holes etc, but they said the squeezes were optional, so felt ok about it! We got suited and booted, wetsuits, thermal tops, w
ellies, and helmets and taken in a bus the ten minutes to the cave site. Our guides, Jed and Neill were really great, and we had a small group of seven of us. There was a place to practice our abseiling down a hill, which we all did fine, and then it was time to enter the cave! We had to abseil one by one down into it, and it was an hourglass shape, wide at the top, then it got skinny, then wide
again. Luckily you couldn’t really see this from the top! I was feeling quite nervous about this part, as you are completely in control of the rope, which scared me! I would rather someone lowered me down, but that was not an option! So, two people went down first, then the guide told me it was my turn. He could tell I was a bit nervous, and so was really nice and kept me chatting to distract me, got me rigged up and sent me on my way. T
he other guide was at the bottom, and could pull my rope taut at anytime to stop me, so I felt safe, just nervous! So I began lowering myself down, and posed for a photo, then got down a bit further where you can’t see from the top, and saw the little hole I had to lower myself down through!!!! It was pretty small, and dark, luckily we had head torches! Kept breathing and just got on with it as I had no choice, got through ok, and then the cave opens out to a huge cathedral! Got all the way down and was so relieved to be down! Waited for the others while having a look around, there were some great fossils to look at. When the whole group was down Jed talked to us about which walls we could touch, and which we shouldn’t, as you can damage thousands of years of growing stalagmites and tights with one touch! We walked though some pretty cool caves with some amazing formations on the ceilings, and then came to a zip wire. We were hooked up in turn, all l
ights were turned off, and then we were sent down. The whole ceiling above us was lit up with glow-worms, it was magical!!! After we had all descended we sat along a wall which had a river at the bottom, with our legs dangling over, and were given a cup of hot chocolate and a flapjack! It was all a bit surreal, being underground, in cave, lit up by glow worms, drinking hot chocolate! After the nice little treat we were given a rubber tube and had to jump off the edge forwards and land sitting in our tube. I watched the first guy do this, and he made such a splash, and went straight under which put me right off! I decided to take the easy option and go down the stairs, however, at the last minute I decided I should do it, with a bit of cajoling from Ben! Got very wet and dunked under, but glad I did it! Now for 'Black Water Rafting'! This is not white water rafting in the dark, it's a lot more sedate than that! It's just like a lazy river ride along in the darkness of a cave, no rapids at all! So we all lined up along the side of the cave, where there was a rope, and used it to pull oursleves along the river. We kept our headlights on in this direction to have a good look at the cave formations, and then would go back in the pitch black! The water was cold, a chilly 12 degrees, so had to keep moving to keep warm! We got to the end of the rope and went a bit further to see a new entrance to the cave forming. Lots of water was pouring down from above and Jed told us one day it would all cave in and make a new entrance to the cave. Jed then told us all about glow-worms, and how they are not a worm, but a maggot, and the glowing light is actually their poo! They attract flies etc to the light, which get caught in these silk dangly things the glow-worm makes which can be up to 2 metres long, and then they eat them! Then they cacoon and become a fly, only for a couple of days, mate and then
die! The glamorous world of glow-worms! To go back Jed hooked us all up in a long line, with one persons boot under another persons arms etc, and pulled us all along, with no lights on, it was pitch black!!! It was so cool seeing all the glow-worms lighting the place up, it was so magical, even if it really was poo! We ditched the rubber rings, we did the 'drunken stumble' which is how it looks and feels when you try and walk through the shallow river bed along the cave!!!! It was quite a long walk, and because of how eneven it is below your feet, you stumble this way and that, and maybe take a tumble! Ben fell over 4 times quite spectacularly, but no injuries!!! We stopped again for a drink of hot juice and a big block of chocolate! Neil told us to pour the drink in our shoes if we didn't want it, and it would warm us up! That is what I did!!! Then the cave gets a bit smaller, and you find yourself crouching a little, and
the walls are much closer on either side! There was a silver slide at the end of the river to go down headfast which we all did and then it was time to make a decision! We could take the 'Path of Tranquility', or the 'Doom and Death route', which included climbing up some waterfalls and some pretty small spaces, which did not appeal t
o me at all! I decided to have a look through and see it, but even the beginning of this route was through a small hole, so I didn't even want to have a look!! I do not like the thought of squeezing through small spaces at all, so this route was not the one for me! Ben was a bit disappointed, but I think it's a good idea for there still to be a few things that he does that I don't, afterall he is the adrenaline junkie!!! I wasn't the only one either! The other two girls also took the easy way out! So we went a very sedate way out of the cave, with a climb up some steep rocks at the end, into the dusk evening! It was funny that it was getting dark, I had just imagined coming out to the day light again, but of course we had been down there for hours! We walked around to the point where the other would emerge, which was a hole with a waterfall running down it! One by one they emerged climbing up the waterfall out into the world again! They were all pretty puffed, it seemed a lot more effort than our route! Ben was raving about it, and he was the only one in the group to go through the really small squeeze hole, which he was really proud of! Had a walk back to the cars, then back to the base for
a nice hot shower!!!! They gave us hot soup and bagels and showed us the photos they had taken on the way around, which we bought of course! They are on CD though, so we need to get them on a memory stick for our mini-laptop, so will put them up when we have done that! Headed back to the campsite and the weather got pretty yucky! It rained most of the evening, so we kept warm and watched DVDs and had hot toast and jam!!!
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
02:55
So on Thursday I got up especially early to be showered and ready to go an hour early so I could speak to Emma on the phone! She was able to use up her call card and ring our mobile, which was a bit different to the usual skype. Had a much needed catch up for a good hour and got caught up on her latest trip to the States, wedding plans and Visa stuff! It was so good to talk! Then we got on the road for the trip to Turangi where we were going to do the ‘Tongariro Alpine Crossing’ which is apparently the most beautiful walk in New Zealand. It was about a four hour drive all in all. We went straight to the information centre to book on a bus, which picks you up and drops you at the start and then picks you up at the end of the day. However, the lady told us that we could not do the walk as it was shut to the public due to the bad weather, and wouldn’t be open for a week!!!! So, back to the drawing board there then!
Decided to drive on to Lake Taupo which was our next stop on the list. It was only about an up the hour up the road. We had a map of Lake Taupo from the last info centre, so knew where to go for a Top Ten campsite where we get 10% discount. It turned out to be one of the nicest campsites we have stayed in, with under floor heating in the shower block which is vastly different to some of the more ‘rustic’ campsites we have stayed on!!! We were looking at possibly going caving at the famous Waitomo Caves as we had some brochures, and an extra day now, so we thought we’d look into it! We knew we wanted to visit Huka Falls waterfall while we were in Taupo, and since the weather was nice we decided to head straight there. Huke Falls listed as one of the most visited waterfalls in NZ, and although it is not a high one, which we expected, it has something else going for it . . . speed! It actually doesn’t really look like a traditional waterfall, as it is quite a small drop, what is so awesome about it is the amount and speed of the water rushing down it! You can hear it before you see it, and it is an awesome sound! It is such an amazing sight, so much water gushing down and at such speed! We headed back to the campsite and set about making a hearty stew for dinner!
On Tuesday we didn't have to get up early which was nice! We drove to Picton where we were booked on the 1.40pm ferry to the north island, and got there with plenty of time to spare. We got some sausages and drove up to a nice picturesque spot above the town and Ben cooked us a sausage sandwich to have with some of our yummy chutney that we bought on our wine tour! We headed for the ferry nice and early, drove on and then left the van to go and find somewhere nice to sit. We went up onto the sundeck to watch the boat leave the harbour, and then went and sat in a cafe for the rest of the trip. Had a yummy cup of tea and millionaires shortbread whilst planning what we'd like to do in the north island! The 3 hour trip went quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to get back in the van and drive off! We had a brochure for a motorhome park right in the middle of town, so headed there first. It is quite a strange set up, basically it is a carpark with a touch screen check in and pay point, codes for the toilets and showers, and it is slap bang in the middle of town! Most of Wellington city centre is walkable, so we thought it would be a good idea to be in a central location.
It was rather odd to get up in the morning and walk to the shower block with people walking to work right outside the van, very odd! However, it is a great central location and we were able to walk to the National museum, Te Papa for the morning. Entry is free and there is a lot to see and do! It's a huge building, and has loads of great exhibitions! We whiled away quite a few hours, one of the highlights was a Colossal Squid, preserved in a huge tank with lots of info and a video about it being caught. We also saw a great exhibition of a New Zealand photographer's work which was pretty cool, and some 20th Century social history which I really enjoyed! Grabbed lunch in a sandwich bar and headed to the information centre.
The weather got a bit sucky and rained, so we headed back to the van for a nice warm hot chocolate, and then when the rain stopped we went to check out The New Zealand Film Archives. Bascially there are a few computers there, and you can search through and find all NZ films etc, including documentarys, adverts, films and trailors, etc etc. I could have spent hours there, there was loads of social history documentaries, films of the Queen visiting, documentarys about ten pound poms, and all sorts! It wasn't really Ben's thing, although he found something about Killer Whales to watch which kept him entertained for a while!
We headed back to van for dinner, and planned our route through the north island. We have so much we want to do, and so little time! We have made a little plan and hope to jam it all in! Driving for about 5 hours tomorrow to get to a place that has a great 16 km walk to do, aparently it's really good, so looking forward to that!
Sarah x
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
02:47
Here is Ben's latest blog offering, about the day he did a bungy jump! It has been nearly three weeks in the making, but better late than never!
When in Queenstown the adventure capital of the world, it would be rude not to partake in some of the sedate activities on offer! I am an adrenaline junkie and will do anything, so on Saturday 16th April I decided it was time to throw myself off something high attached to a bit of elastic! You have three choices in Queenstown; the ledge bungy, the Kawaru bungy (both 40 odd metres) and the Nevis bungy (134 metres) I wanted to do it properly so opted to do the Nevis bungy! I was booked on the 1320 bus. Its a 40 minute drive through the mountains on some very trecherous roads. I've forgotton to mention the my sidekick 'Shit scared Sarah' was with me, she is a massive wimp so was just coming along to watch. Or so she thought! Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa! More on that later! We arrived at Bungy HQ and got fitted with our harnesses, then we got weighed! I have put on 8 pounds since we arrived in Australia six months ago! I know this because I was weighed at Wet and Wild on the Gold Coast to make sure I wasn't too heavy for their water slide! What a heffer! Those Aussie pies were damn good though! Had an amazing one in NZ today for that matter! Venison! Mmmmmmmm, again more on that some other time! So I've got my harness on, I've been weighed, they write your weight on your hand, just to remind you how fat you've got! Bastards! We were then sent out
to the edge of the gorge. There is a cable car in the middle of the gorge, we arrived just in time to see someone jump! My goodness that's a long way down! Once the group that had just jumped had arrived back, my group was sent over in this little cable car! Everyone in the group was doing the jump! Oh hang on a minute, Sarah wasn't! Thats because she's a wimp! We arrived to the car in the middle of the gorge, it had a glass bottom so you could see exactly how high you were. War of the Worlds music was playing, which 
was nice. They send you off the edge in weight order, I was the forth fattest so had to wait a little while. It was good to see everyone was a nervous as I was! After about ten minutes it was my turn. They get you to sit in a chair attach some stuff around your legs, wasn't paying much attention at this point. Then they stand you up, get you to smile for the camera, shuffle you to the edge then count down 3...2...1 go. I must add at this point that it was always my plan to stand on the edge for a while and take in the view. This did not happen! I just Jumped! No goodbye for 'Shit scared Sarah' I just went. I'm glad Sarah got it on video because my mind goes pretty blank at this point. Must be the adrenaline! I do remember that it was amazing and just the adrenaline rush I was looking for! Definately better than sky diving!
Bungy DONE!
Still floating in my adrenaline haze, someone said I could do It again for $70! Thats a quarter of the normal price so there was no way I was missing out on that! Or so I thought. They same lady then tells me that I could do the canyon swing as a tandem attached to 'Triple S' (Shit scared Sarah!) Triple S was surprisingly willing to do this, I'm not sure she actually knew what she had signed herself up for. So off we went to another platform hanging out into the canyon. I had some idea what we were about to do, Triple S clearly did not! A canyon swing is basically exactly what it says on the tin! A bloody massive swing! What Triple S didn't realise was that you freefall for 80 metres before you do the swing bit! So they attached us up to bits via our harnesses, I went backwards so I could enjoy the spectacle close up! For all of you that have seen 'The Video'! you know that Sarah was the spectacle! I'm sure the people spectating thought we were being executed or something. The bloke in charge was good, he was adding to Triple S' fear by prolonging her agony! Telling us to smile for camaras and telling her something wasn't attached. Finally he pressed his button and off we went. It was pretty cool, not a patch on the bungy though! Sarah made lots of noises and informed me that she thought she was going to die. They hoisted us back up and off we went to look at the photos. I should probably say at this point that Triple S will no longer be refered to as such! I was quite impressed that she did it!
So that was enough trying to kill ourselves for one day so off we went on the bus to Queenstown for a well deserved beer and a Ferg Burger. FERG BURGERS ARE AMAZING! I had a Ferg Burger, basically a posh beef burger. Sarah had a Wild Fiordland Deer Burger and plum sauce, aptly named the 'Sweet Bambi' she says its the best burger she's ever had. I would question this because NO BURGER will ever beat the mighty BIG MAC! FACT
Then we went home and went to bed
THE END!
Ben
ps. if you want to see what we did go to http://www.bungy.co.nz/the-nevis
We got to the top and put all our gear on ready. Neil asked us to pose 'extreme' for the beginning of our adventure, so here is is!!! We began by walking down a river and coming to one of many waterfalls that we jumped off! Some we 
could 'freestyle' and others were to be done rather specifically for safety. I always adopted the nose holding pose regardless, where as Ben was much more adventurous! It was a huge feat in itself just for me to jump off some of them, I don't like going under water at all, and it's kind of inevitable! This was the group jump, but since it was just Ben and I making up 'the group', it was just the two of us! The jumps were great, and we did so many that in the end I wasn't too scared. It was bit nerve racking to do the 'controlled' ones, as I was worried I wouldn't land in the right place, or 'miss that massive rock there'!!! but managaed ok!
We made our way down the river, walking was difficult as the bottom was so uneven, so we took a tumble many a time! The pic is of me having fallen already, and then Ben taking a tumble right behind me! We also went down some natural water slides, down a 
waterfall! The first one we did looked like great fun, until he said we had to go down head first on our backs as it was safest! So we trusted our guide, though I always sent Ben down first! You can just about see Ben's feet here at the bottom of the slide! The next big challenge was a huge 30 metre abseil down a waterfall! It looked pretty scary and I must admit I was a little reluctant! Ben went first and 
was all done in about 8 mins, so I reasoned to myself that no matter how bad it was it would be over quite quickly, and I was attached to a safety line, so I was safe. It was a bit different to the cave where I sort of just lowered myself down, for this I had to keep my legs out straight and actually walk myself down, and then through a 
waterfall! It was so nice to be at the bottom when it was all done, but I was really proud of myself!
We did a few more jumps, one off a particularly high rock face, which was a bit daunting! Somehow I managed to land bottom first with my legs out in front of me, which made an almighty sound according to Ben, and stung my leg really bad! I came up and Ben was looking quite concerned, then to add insult to injury I had a bloody nose! We later figured out that I had gouged a piece of skin off when holding my nose for the jump, it bled for ages! We later saw I also had a whopper of a bruise on the back of my leg! We did another sort of abseil where 
Neil did all the rope work and we just walked down the wall, can you believe it was on this one that I slipped, lost my footing, banged against the wall, and was subsequently lowered down like a winch! All in all we did 2 long abseils, one kind of abseil, lots and lots of jumping off waterfalls and had lots of fun! I felt pushed to the brink again most o
f the day, but I must admit things got easier as the day went on, and I even slightly enjoyed the last abseil as Neil told me my technique was excellent! We had a long walk up, up and more up to get back to the van, which was exhausting after the day we’d had! I was so glad to see the van, and then it was just a ten minute ride back to our van, and then 20 mins back to the campsite. The hot shower was so welcome at that point!
