Its been another good few days, we left Auckland really early and drove down to Hot Water Beach. The accommodation wasn't too bad either, I was originally in a dorm with 6 German lads but ended up moving into a caravan with 2 lads I'd met on the bus and I got the double bed which was great! Once we'd got set up in the hostel we took a 15 minute bus ride to Cathedral Cove which is a gorgeous beach only accessible by foot or kayak. The walk takes about half an hour but is gorgeous, it was like being in a forest but you looked out over the ocean. We stayed down on the beach for about half an hour but the sun had moved round and there was a breeze so it was pretty chilly. The views were fabulous though and there are rocks out in the ocean that landed there after a volcanic eruption.
Back at the hostel we had a BBQ that consisted of burgers and some very questionable chicken. We'd bought a lettuce but after a few leaves had been taken off we discovered that the lettuce was home to a large caterpillar so couldn't eat that. At 10pm we headed down to Hot Water Beach after consuming far too much alcohol to dig ourselves some hot water pools. There is a vent that comes up from an underground volcano that makes the water so hot. It was that hot you couldn't actually stand in it for more than about five seconds without scalding your feet. For me, the best thing about the night was the stars. It was a perfectly clear night and there were no artificial lights so you could see every single star in the sky. I can honestly say I've never seem anything so beautiful, we could even see the milky way! I didn't even bother trying to take a picture as that would have done it absolutely no justice but it was the most spectacular sight ever.
The next day everyone surfaced with a terrible hangover and we were all dragged out to walk around an old gold mine. I'm actually really glad we did it as that was beautiful. You had to walk over moving rope bridges which made everyone feel a bit queasy as the lads were making it swing but it was definitely worth it.
That afternoon I got to do one of the things I've been looking forward to most; Black Water Rafting through glow worm caves. The wetsuit was the most uncomfortable thing I've ever worn but it was the best 5 hours. First we had to abseil 35 metres down a hole then walked over rocks, under stalagtites. Next we zip wired down to the waters edge and had a sit down where we had hot chocolate and flap jack to give us some energy. Then came the glow worms. The interesting thing is that they're not actually glow worms, they're actually maggots. And what glows is a special chemical found in their faeces. So technically we were looking up at glowing maggot poo. We had to do a 2 metre jump into freezing cold water whilst landing flat in a rubber ring. We then pulled ourselves through the caves with our torches turned off looking up at a mass of glowing dots on the caves. It was absolutely amazing. Then we were climbing over rocks, through water and having to swim across to dry bits of cave. We climbed through the tiniest holes and I managed to fall and hit my hip on a rock so I've got a nice big bruise to remind me of my time. Last but not least we climbed up a waterfall, it was a free climb so I could have easily fallen but managed to make it to the top in one piece. Seriously, I had the biggest sense of achievement and would recommend it to everyone. We resurfaced at 7:30pm and had some soup and a bagel to warm us up. It was expensive but so so worth it.
Today we're off to Rotorua which is called the geothermal capital of the world with hot water pools dotted around. Me and this guy called James have stuck together for the past few days and are staying there for a few nights and going to Hobbiton tomorrow and a Maori feast and village tour tonight so that should be fun.
Really enjoying it out here and we've been lucky with the weather. Hope it keeps up :)
Xxx
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