So, I have made the definitive decision that New Zealand is the ultimate for adventure travel! Today was the BEST adventure experience I've EVER had! I went blackwater rafting in underground caves with glow worms all over the "ceilings" today! Where to start...
I was up at 6:30am, bags packed and waiting for the shuttle by 7am. After a two hour shuttle ride I arrived in Waitomo, NZ which is out of the way, and almost impossible to get in and out of (so I ended up having to pay quite a bit to take this shuttle service). I then had a little while to just chill and get ready to be FREEZING cold. It ended up just being four of us in my group which was great and when our guide, Jah, came to get us we were all pretty anxious, not really knowing what we were getting into with an activity called the "Black Abyss." Dun, Dun, Dun...
Next we were told to get into our bathers (swimsuits) and wet wetsuit socks, overalls, jacket, boots, helmet (with light), and harness. Whew. We were all shivering and cracking up at our stylish outfits by the time our guide was giving us all the info tightening up our gear. Then it was time to head to the abseiling (repelling) practice spot for a quick 15 min. lesson. NEXT..
You would not believe the things we got to do today!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was first - SO excited! Clipped my harness on the rope and down I went into the BLACK ABYSS. Seriously! You couldn't see anything, the caving tunnel thingy I was lowering myself into (sometimes faster and better than others) got super tiny and you had to squeeze through and then it was pitch black and you had no idea how far you were going! The main comfort was my fearless leader, Jah, whistles from the bottom! Finally I arrived on a platform and was told to turn off my light so the others would have the same experience! Walking down off the platform we were in a giant cave... stalagmites/tites were everywhere as well as dripping water etc. I was then clipped on again and went ziplining in the complete and utter darkness across a cavern - only to look up and realize there were little glowing things ALL over the "ceiling!" It was absolutely gorgeous - like those little glow in the dark stars little kids put on their ceilings - constellations of glowing insects everywhere! After a few minutes of walking through the cave and getting to take our harnesses off, we sat and hung our legs over a ledge about 15 or 20 feet above the water AND we were given hot chocolate and granola squares by our lovely guide... AWESOME! Next it was time to grab a tube, and yep you guessed it, leap off the ledge into the "black" water of the river running through the cave! Freaking Cold is all I have to say about being the first to take the leap of faith! In with a huge splat over my head in freezing cold water... definitely let out a scream on that one! We pulled ourselves upstream with a rope for about 20 minutes or so and then just chilled under the part of the cave with the most glow worms... everyone just relaxing (having adjusted to the frigid temp by this point) and staring up at the glowing dots while Jah told us about glowworms.
They're not worms at all... to my surprise... they call them that for tourist/advertising purposes! In reality they're fly larvae, or maggots, and it's their poo that glows! HAHA!!!!!!!! When asked why their poo glows to brightly in the dark, Jah responded that it was to attract tourists to barely on the map Waitomo! :) He also told us about the flies - I forget the name of the fly- but they're born with no mouth or stomach. So, as you can imagine they can't live long - they only live a few days but they have an extremely high sex drive and go at it for 12 hours at a time! Which we were assured is the average for any Kiwi male... haha! Then the male dies of exhaustion and the female lays all her eggs and dies of relief (as Jah so nicely put it)! Too funny these crazy insects! But as the guy from California put it, "it's the prettiest poo I've ever seen!" :)
Then we all hooked boots underarms and floated down the river while singing random songs and enjoying the glowing all above us - pretty magical really! After a bunch more trudging through chest high water and stumbling over crazy formations underfoot (we got rid of the tubes at this point) swimming through the deep parts, and climbing over the high parts, (I was always first, cause the other three were slow and scared... Jah and I would just hang out and wait on them) we arrived at a waiting point and he took a seat on the rock, then he said "hop right on up here Kate," and patted a place next to him... so like a good follower I did just that, turned around and hoisted myself up... next thing I know he gives me a shove backwards and I'm on a 10 foot slide over a waterfall, headfirst into the water screaming a few choice words due to my utter shock! Once I come sputtering up, he is cracking up and asking if I'm having fun yet! "Of course!" Was the only thing I could get out!
More exploring - let me tell you the first people to discover this cave and then find all these amazing passage ways etc. were so lucky! Jah was back helping the others, and told me to just go ahead... here I am in New Zealand wandering through waist deep water around a giant cave corridor with just my headlamp... no one else in sight... WOW!!!! We get to a pretty decent waterfall and Jah instructs me to just jump - and again, I do - totally deep, underwater I go helmet and all, swim to the rope and then it's time to climb under/behind the waterfall only to be hoisted up by Jah through the water on the other side - not only did I look like a beached whale and practically landed on top of him, but I also LOST A BOOT! The water was so strong and there it went... into the black abyss... they said they'll find them all this summer when the tide goes down! So, needless to say I spent the rest of the experience with one boot on, and one boot off! Oh, and then we chilled again for another snack (can you believe it?) steaming hot orange juice and chocolate bars!!!!!! Sitting on the side of a cave, just crawled through a waterfall, and now we're taking pictures, looking at giant crickets or spiders or eels, and have the best warm snack ever! Next, as I'm trekking through the cave with Jah, he stops and says, "ok, now you go through there," and motions to a little hole in the wall of the cave... I said "aren't you coming?" His reply, "nope, I'm taking pictures of what we like to refer to as "the rebirth." So I squeeze through this tiny tunnel where you have to be flat on your stomach wiggling through, and there's water halfway up and then snap my picture practically falling out of the gushing tunnel in the main cave again! Haha... you know these guides get a kick out of watching people do this every day! We crawled through amazing spaces and saw more waterfalls and kept trudging (me minus a boot) until we came to daylight! Then it was short climb out over a small waterfall and a decent hike back to the road. My oh my was I a sight! Helmet and leftover boot in my hands... handkerchief thing on my head to keep my hair out of the way, no shoes just wetsuit socks... and a permanent grin!
Guess what, when we got back we had hot showers and soup and bagels waiting for us!!!!
I really can't say enough about the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Co. and my guide Jah... it was THE BEST experience! I'm so glad I busted my butt to get there and spent the money!
WHAT A DAY!
Now I'm waiting to catch my overnight bus to Wellington (11:30pm-6:30am) and then I will catch the ferry from Wellington across to the South Island tomorrow morning around 7:30am! I hear the South Island is absolutely gorgeous but colder... yikes! I just thawed out!
EVERYONE, absolutely each one of you, needs to come to New Zealand even if it's just to blackwater raft in the caves! :)
Kate
I was up at 6:30am, bags packed and waiting for the shuttle by 7am. After a two hour shuttle ride I arrived in Waitomo, NZ which is out of the way, and almost impossible to get in and out of (so I ended up having to pay quite a bit to take this shuttle service). I then had a little while to just chill and get ready to be FREEZING cold. It ended up just being four of us in my group which was great and when our guide, Jah, came to get us we were all pretty anxious, not really knowing what we were getting into with an activity called the "Black Abyss." Dun, Dun, Dun...
Next we were told to get into our bathers (swimsuits) and wet wetsuit socks, overalls, jacket, boots, helmet (with light), and harness. Whew. We were all shivering and cracking up at our stylish outfits by the time our guide was giving us all the info tightening up our gear. Then it was time to head to the abseiling (repelling) practice spot for a quick 15 min. lesson. NEXT..
You would not believe the things we got to do today!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was first - SO excited! Clipped my harness on the rope and down I went into the BLACK ABYSS. Seriously! You couldn't see anything, the caving tunnel thingy I was lowering myself into (sometimes faster and better than others) got super tiny and you had to squeeze through and then it was pitch black and you had no idea how far you were going! The main comfort was my fearless leader, Jah, whistles from the bottom! Finally I arrived on a platform and was told to turn off my light so the others would have the same experience! Walking down off the platform we were in a giant cave... stalagmites/tites were everywhere as well as dripping water etc. I was then clipped on again and went ziplining in the complete and utter darkness across a cavern - only to look up and realize there were little glowing things ALL over the "ceiling!" It was absolutely gorgeous - like those little glow in the dark stars little kids put on their ceilings - constellations of glowing insects everywhere! After a few minutes of walking through the cave and getting to take our harnesses off, we sat and hung our legs over a ledge about 15 or 20 feet above the water AND we were given hot chocolate and granola squares by our lovely guide... AWESOME! Next it was time to grab a tube, and yep you guessed it, leap off the ledge into the "black" water of the river running through the cave! Freaking Cold is all I have to say about being the first to take the leap of faith! In with a huge splat over my head in freezing cold water... definitely let out a scream on that one! We pulled ourselves upstream with a rope for about 20 minutes or so and then just chilled under the part of the cave with the most glow worms... everyone just relaxing (having adjusted to the frigid temp by this point) and staring up at the glowing dots while Jah told us about glowworms.
They're not worms at all... to my surprise... they call them that for tourist/advertising purposes! In reality they're fly larvae, or maggots, and it's their poo that glows! HAHA!!!!!!!! When asked why their poo glows to brightly in the dark, Jah responded that it was to attract tourists to barely on the map Waitomo! :) He also told us about the flies - I forget the name of the fly- but they're born with no mouth or stomach. So, as you can imagine they can't live long - they only live a few days but they have an extremely high sex drive and go at it for 12 hours at a time! Which we were assured is the average for any Kiwi male... haha! Then the male dies of exhaustion and the female lays all her eggs and dies of relief (as Jah so nicely put it)! Too funny these crazy insects! But as the guy from California put it, "it's the prettiest poo I've ever seen!" :)
Then we all hooked boots underarms and floated down the river while singing random songs and enjoying the glowing all above us - pretty magical really! After a bunch more trudging through chest high water and stumbling over crazy formations underfoot (we got rid of the tubes at this point) swimming through the deep parts, and climbing over the high parts, (I was always first, cause the other three were slow and scared... Jah and I would just hang out and wait on them) we arrived at a waiting point and he took a seat on the rock, then he said "hop right on up here Kate," and patted a place next to him... so like a good follower I did just that, turned around and hoisted myself up... next thing I know he gives me a shove backwards and I'm on a 10 foot slide over a waterfall, headfirst into the water screaming a few choice words due to my utter shock! Once I come sputtering up, he is cracking up and asking if I'm having fun yet! "Of course!" Was the only thing I could get out!
More exploring - let me tell you the first people to discover this cave and then find all these amazing passage ways etc. were so lucky! Jah was back helping the others, and told me to just go ahead... here I am in New Zealand wandering through waist deep water around a giant cave corridor with just my headlamp... no one else in sight... WOW!!!! We get to a pretty decent waterfall and Jah instructs me to just jump - and again, I do - totally deep, underwater I go helmet and all, swim to the rope and then it's time to climb under/behind the waterfall only to be hoisted up by Jah through the water on the other side - not only did I look like a beached whale and practically landed on top of him, but I also LOST A BOOT! The water was so strong and there it went... into the black abyss... they said they'll find them all this summer when the tide goes down! So, needless to say I spent the rest of the experience with one boot on, and one boot off! Oh, and then we chilled again for another snack (can you believe it?) steaming hot orange juice and chocolate bars!!!!!! Sitting on the side of a cave, just crawled through a waterfall, and now we're taking pictures, looking at giant crickets or spiders or eels, and have the best warm snack ever! Next, as I'm trekking through the cave with Jah, he stops and says, "ok, now you go through there," and motions to a little hole in the wall of the cave... I said "aren't you coming?" His reply, "nope, I'm taking pictures of what we like to refer to as "the rebirth." So I squeeze through this tiny tunnel where you have to be flat on your stomach wiggling through, and there's water halfway up and then snap my picture practically falling out of the gushing tunnel in the main cave again! Haha... you know these guides get a kick out of watching people do this every day! We crawled through amazing spaces and saw more waterfalls and kept trudging (me minus a boot) until we came to daylight! Then it was short climb out over a small waterfall and a decent hike back to the road. My oh my was I a sight! Helmet and leftover boot in my hands... handkerchief thing on my head to keep my hair out of the way, no shoes just wetsuit socks... and a permanent grin!
Guess what, when we got back we had hot showers and soup and bagels waiting for us!!!!
I really can't say enough about the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Co. and my guide Jah... it was THE BEST experience! I'm so glad I busted my butt to get there and spent the money!
WHAT A DAY!
Now I'm waiting to catch my overnight bus to Wellington (11:30pm-6:30am) and then I will catch the ferry from Wellington across to the South Island tomorrow morning around 7:30am! I hear the South Island is absolutely gorgeous but colder... yikes! I just thawed out!
EVERYONE, absolutely each one of you, needs to come to New Zealand even if it's just to blackwater raft in the caves! :)
Kate
Kate, I keep telling people you are just amazing, and you really are!!!! Are you posting photos anywhere? I am spending hours on-line learning about all the places you have been. I am becoming more and more determined to visit Australia and New Zealand for myself. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteI WANT TO DO THIS! Kate, this sounds so, so cool. Even cooler than Zorb. PLEASE, can we go do it together? soon?!
ReplyDeleteGood Jan! I hope you make that a reality! As for photos... not really, but thanks to your reminder and finally a good computer that likes me you'll notice I posted a couple here on my blog!
ReplyDeleteBrit!!!
ReplyDeleteYou HAVE to! I'm so serious... if there was ever a country designed for you - it's New Zealand - 100%! Wish you were here with me!