EASTER BREAK: Part 1

DISCLAIMER: This post is really long. But it's also really cool.

Naked Bus: Taking me all over the North Island with style.

   Friday commenced my Easter Break. I woke up early to catch the 9 AM bus to Waitomo. I found the bus stop no problem, hopped on the bus, and we were off! I had a connection in Bulls 2 hours in, so I switched buses. From Bulls to Waitomo I was stuck in the same seat, on the same bus. Did I mention it took 7 hours to go from Bulls to Waitomo? It wasn’t that bad until like 4 PM, when I started to get hungry and tired from sitting so long. The drive was gorgeous though. This country is amazing. It really is as beautiful as it looks in all the photos. The consequence of all the pretty picturesque hills is a steep, windy drive. It was terrifying! These people are crazy to drive like they do! It seemed like the bus driver was going so fast, but I’m sure he’s used to the roads and knows what he’s doing. But that thought did not comfort me at all during the drive! I made conversation with the man next to me for a ways to try to get my mind off the insane driving, but he kept asking me some silly questions, such as “Do they have Easter in America?” and “How many miles are there between each state?” Anyways, 9 hours after leaving Wellington, I finally arrived at Juno Hall Backpackers in Waitomo. I relaxed for the rest of the evening before going to sleep.

   I had caving planned for Saturday. I did the Black Abyss expedition, which is an action packed 5 hour underground adventure! IT WAS AMAZING. I have no words! Looking back, it’s all a fun, adrenaline, cold, wet blur. But I’ll try to explain it.

Just practicing some abseiling. NBD.

The caving group, ready to go!

   I got to the café pretty early, so I had a while to wait before our group departed. I kept getting more and more nervous the longer I sat there and thought about it. But 10 AM finally rolled around and we were ready to get in the caves. We all got suited up, with a wetsuit, neoprene booties, a neoprene jacket, a thermal layer, a headsock for the ladies, and a helmet. It was a lot to get on, and it was all cold and wet! Once we got all our apparel on, we put our harnesses on and got in the van. We drove a little ways down the road to get to the cave, and before we started we practiced abseiling a bit. Abseiling is where you’re repelling into a big hole in the ground, basically. We all mastered it, and we were ready to go! I was kind of freaking out. I was so excited but also nervous and scared!

   The group, with our 2 awesome tour guides, were ready to descend into the Ruakuri cave. I walked out onto this teeny little walkway over the hole, got hooked up, and then sat back in my harness, and I was dangling over a big hole in the ground! It was a little nerve-wracking at first. I abseiled down a 35 meter hole in the ground, and it was no problem! I was nervous for nothing.

Abseiling 35 metres into the ground!

   We then all walked down a ways, until we found a zip line. It was SO much fun! The zip line was pretty short, but the guides made everyone turn out their head lamps while we did it. And of course, I was the first one to go, so I didn’t know what to expect! Although it was pretty scary jumping out into the darkness, it was a lot of fun. Once we all got done zip lining down, we sat for a bit and had hot chocolate and biscuits before we kept on. It’s pretty cold underground, and the water was a balmy 12 degrees C, so we needed to warm up before we jumped in! After our snack, we grabbed some intertubes and jumped off the edge into the cave’s river. It felt like a pretty high jump, and the water was SO cold! Even with all the wetsuit gear, I was shivering.

Jumping into the underground river. Very cold.

  We pulled ourselves upstream a ways with some ropes on the cave wall. It was amazing to see the glow worms everywhere. Then, we all linked up by putting our feet under the arms of the person in front of us. Our line of tubes floated back downstream, and we got to observe the glow worms a little more. We got to see them up close too! Anyways, after our tubing excursion, we got rid of the tubes and walked through the cave. We walked in the river that went through the cave. We saw a baby eel along the way! In some parts, it was only ankle deep, but in others we had to swim! We walked a ways before going down a little slide over a waterfall, headfirst of course. After that we trekked some more, before taking a little path that would lead us out. After we got onto the path, we stopped for another hot drink break. This time we had tea, and some chocolate-yum!

Casual snack break 60 metres underground...

   We got going again, and had to climb 2 waterfalls. We were basically rock climbing with out the ropes. Luckily the waterfalls weren’t that tall! It was still a little scary to be climbing up with all this water rushing down at you, but so cool! After waterfall # 1, the cave began to narrow. It was all very big and wide open the whole time we were wandering around. Now, it got a little smaller and we had to do more crawling. There was one point where we had to struggle through a pretty tiny hole. At least the water wasn’t very high! After waterfall #2, we were on the home stretch. Just a little more crawling, and then we saw daylight! We finally made it out! We had a short walk (albeit uphill) to get back to the van and drive back to the café. Once we got there, we struggled to get all of our wet gear off, then got a hot shower. It felt so good to be in warm water for a change! After our showers, we received free soup and bagels! It was nice to be out in the warm air, eating hot food.
   

4 hours later.. daylight!!

I relaxed in the café for a while, then caught a ride into the village from one of the couples on the cave tour. They had rented a campervan that had been painted. They have those all over this country, and they’re so cool! I got on the bus to Rotorua soon afterwards. I arrived to Rotorua at 9ish, walked to my hostel, looked around at all the weird tex-mex décor, and eventually crashed.

The weirdest hostel of all time. Tex Mex? Star Wars? Jail? I don't know.

   The next morning, I had nothing planned. My bus out of Rotorua was leaving at 1230, so I had some time to kill. I asked the hostel owners what was fun, cheap, and quick, and they told me about a few walks I could do. I ended up walking down to Kuirau Park, which had heaps of thermal stuff. It was like what my family and I saw before, but free!
   

Not showering has never looked so good.

   I wandered around there for a while before walking a path along Lake Rotorua. The walk was beautiful, and there were black swans everywhere! I also saw some more thermal lands.
   

"The coffee pot." A popular bathing site for early settlers.

   After that, I walked back to the hostel to collect my things for the bus, and walked to the bus stop. The bus ride was short, and I arrived in Whakatane by 2 PM. The owner of the hostel picked me up, and I explored the hostel a bit. Then, I decided to explore town. I walked around for what seemed like ages! Whakatane isn’t very nice, and there’s not a lot to look at. Even the river running through town isn’t pretty. But it was good to get out and get moving. I've just been relaxing in the hostel this evening. The radio is playing some sweet tunes, it's not very crowded, and it's really nice!

   So far, this vacation has been AMAZING. I can't get over the caving expedition! Tomorrow is the tour of an active volcano though, and I can't wait! Be on the lookout for my Part 2 post soon  : )