Caving

First off, I will post pictures up as soon as I finish my memory card. Then I have to burn it onto a cd and then figure out how to post it to a website. Pictures with explainations will be up soon.

Two nights ago I was in Rotorua which is called the cultural capital of NZ. I went to a traditional Maori dinner which was awesome. The Maoris are the indigenous people to the island. No one really knows where they came from but their culture is very rich and full of tales. The best part is the culture is very inviting. We got onto the bus to take us to the dinner and the driver was teaching us some Maori words. The dinner was set up as if we were entering Maori tribal grounds so first off our "chief" had to wait while the Maori chief did an intimidating dance around him. The dance included him acting like a wild animal and sticking his tongue out and bulging his eyes. His face was entirely tatooed and behind him the women were singing in Maori. It was really fun to see. After our presence was accepted by the tribe we got to walk around a traditional Maori village. Unfortunately none of my pictures came out. After the village we went into the tribal meetinghouse where the Maoris performed some songs for us and explained some more about their history. Apparently there are Maori meeting houses all over NZ that are still used today to keep the culture alive so I will keep my eye out for one. The food was great and was cooked in the ground which was the traditional way for Maoris to cook food for large groups of people. It was a very fun night.

The next day was just spent on the bus going to Wiatomo. We got off at one point and walked to a waterfall which was cool since it was my first waterfall that I ever saw in person. After that we headed straight for Wiatomo which is possible the smallest town I have ever seen. The whole reason for being there was to go tubing underground the next day into the caves and look at the glow worms. It was raining the whole day so I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it since the water level in the caves was getting to high. I signed up for the 5 hour tubing adventure called the Abyss. I figured, go big or go home right? So I woke up at 7:45 and got to the caves around 8. It was me and two other people from the bus plus two tour guides. The guides said the water was pretty high but that we could still go in if we wanted to. We were all for it so we went.

Before tubing in the caves I had to get into the caves. The whole time they were saying how were going to abseil. I had no idea what abseil was. I thought it was a way to walk down. But no, abseil is the Kiwi way of saying that we were going to repel into the cave. So I was given a helmet and I five minute instructional course and then I was on a rope lowering myself down into the cave. It was awesome. Once we were in the cave we walked a little bit and then one of the guides hooked me up to another rope. I thought it was just a safety precaution until she turned off all of our headlamps and asked me how well I could scream. It turns out I was hooked up to a zip line that went down in complete darkness. Needless to say I screamed like I usually do if I was on a roller coaster and I was complimented on my screaming abilities. When I got down to the bottom of the zip line I looked up and say all of the glow worms hanging overhead. It looked like a really starry night.

Glow worms are actually maggots and what glows is there poo. But just looking at them they are pretty. We took a break after the zip line and had some hot chocolate before we jumped in the water. Once in the water we grabbed hold of a rope and pulled ourselves up stream so that we could float downstream and look at the glow worms on the ceiling. It was really relaxing. Once we got back to where we started downstream we through up the tubes. Then the guide told us that normally we would walk the rest of the way but since the water was so high we could actually body surf through the cave. That was fun. I just floated along and let the current take me. We then got to another point where the guides grabbed us one by one and pushed us down a sligh drop. It was like a really tiny waterfall. So much fun. After that we took another break and drank some hot tea. We had to keep on drinking hot liquids because the water is really cold in the cave. With a wet suit and constant moving I barely felt the cold.

After the break we started walking up stream. This was the hardest part because as we were walking we had to watch out for stalagtites sticking out. The normal path that the path usually takes was blocked off by water so the guides had to take us a different way. It turns out that by this time the cave had been closed to all tours. We were the only people in the cave which I think is really cool. The guides found a different way and we all climbed out of the cave safe and sound. This was by far the best thing I have done so far. It was great.

Now I am in Taupo and I have hopped off the Kiwi bus for awhile. I am planning on staying here for a bit and looking for a job. I want the job not so much for the money but for the regularity. The bus trip is good but it's a lot of stuff getting done in short amounts of time. I have the time to slow down a bit and just chill out. Taupo has a lake, the Taupo lake which is the largest lake in the southern hemisphere. I figure that's not a bad place to spend a month or so. If I don't find a job I can always just hop on the bus again and go to Wellington which is on the southern tip of the Northern Island. I haven't made any plans yet, I'll see how the job hunting goes.