Nov 2007

This morning we left for Waitomo first stopping at the Geysers hot springs which is on Maori land and was originally used by the people for washing, cooking and heating their homes. This is an impressive sight as you see the water spurting from the ground as it is heated to boiling point by the magma underground. Here there are also hot mud pools and the smell is pretty rank due to all the sulpher being produced you get an eggy smell.

After spending some time watching the eruptions of the geysers we all headed to the exhibition center and met up with the Maori guides where the boys from the group would learn to do the Haka, as it is against tradition for the girls to perform the Haka they had to settle with some sort of ball juggling on a rope, not very interesting. So all the lads headed off to the other side of the park area to make some noise and generally look like idiots. It was a good laugh learning it and making all the stupid faces until all the girls turned up to watch and we had to perform the Haka to them!

Later that day we arrived at the Hostel in Waitomo and spent the afternoon chilling out, we were in the middle of nowhere and there wasn’t much to do so after dinner we all watched a movie. Myself and a few others had booked onto the caving trip the following day which I was really looking forward to.

First stop this morning on our way to Rotorua was Karangahake scenic reserve and tunnel walks which is an old gold mine, this was pretty cool as we got to go through some of the old tunnels which have been converted into a walk. It was pitch black at times which added to the fun and the bridges across the river were suspension style ones which allowed for plenty of bouncing around scaring some of the group.

After here we headed to the home of Zorbing, this is a sport - if you can call it that, which involves getting inside a giant ball and rolling down a hill. Sound like fun? Well it is the one of the funniest things I’ve done in a long time. Myself, Jimmy and Tom decided to all get in one Zorb and went for the wet option which means they put tons of soapy water in there with you. Jimmy has a water proof camera which makes for hilarious viewing. Trying to stand up is pretty impossible and it was like being inside a giant washing machine, like I said, great fun!

That evening we all went to a traditional Maori village and feasted on a Hangi which is a Maori meal quite similar to a Sunday roast back home but it is cooked underground. It was delicious and was a buffet style which meant all you can eat! They also performed the Haka in full tribal dress, the Haka is the war dance that was performed to scare the enemy before battle and has been made famous by the Kiwi rugby team the All Blacks.

Today we headed out of Auckland after an overnight stop over from the Bay of Islands. First stop was Mt Eden which is an extinct volcano and provides 360˚ views of Auckland City.

Following this we headed through native NZ forest to reach the beautiful Cathedral Cove so called because of the Cathedral shaped archway on the beach. We spent a couple of hours chilling on the beach and checking out the volcanic formations. The sea was bloody freezing though so we didn’t make it into the water which is a shame as there were some caves just off-shore that would have been cool to check out. After our stop here we headed to Hot Water beach which has a thermal outlet where the water is pushed up through the sand by the volcanic magma underground, the water is literally too hot to stand in alone so it’s best mixed with a bit of sea water.

That evening we arrived at our hostel which provided us with a good home cooked meal, a few beers and a showing of the legendary Anchor Man, classic stuff!