September 15, 2002 Hahei, New Zealand
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Today was “black water rafing” day. It was only about 50F out, so we all put on wet-suits, boots, goves, and helmets with lights. Then we each picked out an inner-tube and jumped into the freezing water. Now that our wet-suits were wet, we headed for the Waitomo Caves entrance, which was a very small hole you could barly fit through. Blakc water rafting was a combination of spelunking through narrow, dark, wet passages, and floating on our tubes when we got to deep water. The most exciting part was jumping backwards over a 10 foot waterfall. The thing that makes these caves special are the glow-worms, so we floated through the huge glow-worm caves with our lights off, which was quite spectacular.
After this we headed for Hot Water Beach, where we stood in hot water for awhile, then off to another remote lodge. Today was another busy day and it was quite tiring. I need some time to relax, get organized, work on the website, and do laundry after wearing the same clothes for five days. I also need some time to myself, so I will be getting off the bus at Taupo. The problem with Stray is there are only 3 busses a week, so if you get off you have to stay for 3 days. I have enough time for two stops, so I plan to stay in Queenstown to learn to snowboard.