North Island Update

Wow, sorry to not write sooner, but at first there wasn't much to write, now it seems almost too much. I arrived on the North Island in Wellington on the 11th to warm hugs from the Smiths, friends from Colorado. They graciously welcomed me to their home in Lower Hutt and it was wonderful to catch up with them. We did a great day hike just outside Wellington and also visited the Te Paupa Museum which had beautiful displays of Maori green stone carvings and other ways of life. There was also a really neat exhibit on the different perspectives that immigrants have brought with them, especially those from the Pacific Islands.

Then I got back on the Stray bus to head up to Auckland...and boy was that a long day! Twelve hours on the bus from the south to the north of the island. From Auckland we headed to Haiei on the east coast for a chance to check out the Hot Water Beach (we were on the high end of tide so we didn't have much luck). I also took the opportunity to do another kayaking trip to visit Cathedral Cove. It was a fantastic day to be on the water and the islands and coves were wonderful! We went through a tunnel on one island then to Cathedral Cove where our awesome guides made us hot coffee drinks and gave us cookies too! After our break there we went into Lovers Cave and Sting Ray cove, where there were TONS of sting rays much to our delight. Then as the sun set and turned the sky beautiful colors of pink and orange, we had to make our way back to camp. We had a great time getting to know each other over BBQ and beers.
Our next stop was Raglan, home to the worlds largest left hand break - aka a great place for surfers. Now I probably should have practiced my wicked surf skills, but opted for a viewpoint hike with some of the girls instead. The backpackers where we stayed is nestled at the bottom of the mountain so we tredged our ways up (not kidding, there were definitely some points where we were on all fours and scrambling away). We had quite a few laughs together even though we never were sure where the viewpoint was supposed to be. When we got back to the bottom we tried out the flying fox (also known as a zip line) and had even more fun doing that! Then I ran into some of my mates from the south island, what a treat :)

Yesterday we drove to Waitomo, Wai meaning water and tomo meaning hole in the ground (I think) together meaning water carved caves and now known as home of the glowworm caves. Its a beautiful area with over 300 caves networked over probably hundreds of kilometers. After checking in at the hostel, I took a short walk up to a Pa site which used to be a fortified place for the Maoris. It provided a lovely lookout for lunch. Then it was off to a caving adventure. We had a nice small group and a great time exploring some of the most amazing glowworm caves in the region. We absailed (repelled) down 40 meters into the cave, then took a flying fox even further down in the Black Abyss. It was an awesome feeling to fly into a cave speckled with glowworms like stars in the sky. Then after some hot cocoa and caramel bars we jumped into the icy fresh waters of the cave with our intertubes which we used to go to the very end of the cave. There were probably millions of glowworms and they were everywhere you looked. It was simply fantastic! We then went to the other end, five kilometers, and climbed out through two waterfalls using the limestone walls for excellent grips. Then, because we were special (aka a small group) we had enough time to adventure through the Black Labyrinth which started by going over a few waterfalls in our tubes then floating through even more glowworms and tramping through the stream for an amazing exit view that looked like something out of a movie...and no it wasn't in Lord of the Rings because some farmer thought the movie scouts were just a bunch of rowdy students.

Now the next stop will be Rotorua...a geothermal hot spot with lots of Maori culture to go with it :)