Last weekend was PACKED! There are so many things to talk about, so I may gloss over the small details of the not-quite-as-amazing-things. My group left Thursday afternoon, after my bio class. There were 9 of us (the 4 from the previous weekend plus Charity, Sheri, Tomas, and Matt). It was a good group. There was a little tension at times but it was fine. We had two cars – which is perhaps the cause of most of the trouble we had. It turns out, it is very difficult to communicate b/w cars when you don’t have phones. (Note to self: Bring Walkie-talkies next time.) We drove to Waitomo that night and arrived at midnight. (Thank you Katherine for driving the whole way!) We had to get there that night b/c our adventures started early the next day.
Next day: We woke up and went CAVING! But not just caving… we went into a cave with GLOW WORMS! But not just glow worms… we went into a cave with glow worms and a river… and went RAFTING! We each got wet suits and an inner tube. We started out by abseiling into the cave. (Abseiling in NZ = vertical caving in US.) That was AwEsOmE! Then we climbed through the cave and got all wet and then tubed back down the river. When we turned off our head-lights we saw all these little dots of lights – a lot like stars out in the country side where there’s no city light to wash out the millions of lights you see. Then, our tour guide made this really loud noise, and the glow worms got brighter! How cool!
Next activity: When we got back to the hostel we were staying at, the girls were all tired so they took a nap – but us men (Tomas, Matt, and I) went out for some more fun. We found this trail to a natural tunnel near the caves so we went on it. A little ways into the trail, we saw this opening to a cave, so naturally we went in.
It was pretty tight and very dark – in fact we could not see anything, so we improvised. None of had a phone, as I already said, so we used our cameras. We have since named in Photo Cartography – mapping out your position and path by the use of photos. We took a picture of the cave emptiness in front of us and then used that to decide where to go. It was surprisingly effective and unbelievably fun! We eventually made it to what looked like a high cliff. Leaning over the edge, I looked down and took some pictures. Just then, a tour guide looked up with his head lamp from about thirty feet below and said, “I see you up there! Are you supposed to be in here?” uh oh. I slunk back into the shadows without a word. My immediate plan was to sneak out with the other guys, until we reached the opening to the cave and realized that just outside our opening was where the tour guide was exiting! We kept our cool. With some quick thinking, we climbed into a narrow cave passageway we found earlier and hid out for a few minutes. Luckily, the tour guide didn’t come into the cave, but rather just passed on. We were safe, and not caught. Oh yeah! We later finished the trail and then went on another trail and went back to the sleepy girls, who by that time had had a wonderfully long nap. We had a late dinner and crashed.Next day (Saturday): I got up early to cook breakfast – which was amazing! I made French toast and we put all sorts of stuff on it: PB, nutella, PB and nutella, jelly, syrup, PB and honey, I think that’s it. My favorite is still syrup, though. It was delish!
Then we drove to the hot springs. We paid a few bucks to enjoy a few hours of bathin in the sun in naturally heated hot spring pools. They had at least four pools of various heats, from warm, to very hot. It was splendid :)Then we went to Hell – or rather the gates of Hell. Hell’s Gate is this place where there a geotherms in abundance. They’re basically a lot of really hot mud and water that boil and sizzle and make bubbly noises. It was pretty cool. At the end, we were taught how to etch a carving into a piece of wood by a Maori artisan. I made a kiwi. He looks cool.
Then (it keeps going and going and going) … we went to a Maori performance. They fed us a wonderful buffet – it was delicious! And then the native Maori performed. The women did a poi dance (sorry, no fire Jim) for which Sheri got to go up and perform.
Then the men did a Haka for which I got to perform. A Haka is a dance they do just before going to battle. When the Maori would battle they would make grotesque faces with the hope that the enemy would surrender without a fight. These faces are incorporated into the dance. I must say my performance is a little less frightening than I intended … it was actually quite funny! By the end, my group was complaining about their abs hurting from laughing. I tried. lol - it was a blast.Next day (Sunday): Sunday involved a bit of driving, but we also went canoeing! Little did we know that the canoeing would actually be kayaking and that there were minor rapids on the river!
We got a late start for the canoeing so we ended pretty late, but it was a lot of fun! The countryside was beautiful – something like Rohan and the Shire mixed. At one point, we stopped on a bank to eat our lunch and I climbed up a neighboring hill. I could see so far! There were sheep and some cows, rock boulders, and cliffs! It was breathtaking! The rapids were fun too. Just down the stream from where we began, I kayaked over a big boulder and flipped over. Tomas and I were the only ones who fell out of our kayaks. Tomas and I also got into a little bit of trouble later on. When we got to the end, we had to wait about forty minutes until the van would pick us up. DETOUR: I forgot something of MOST importance:In order to get to the river, some of us went with the kayak driver, but four us had to drive ourselves. The driver handed us the keys to a company car and asked us to follow. The car was a stick shift. And I was the only who knew how to drive it! Whoohoo! So I got to DRIVE! It was awesome – once I figured out that 1st gear was not 4th gear and stalled pulling onto the main road. It actually wasn’t that strange, driving on the left side of the road. And roundabouts are definitely awesome. And so are wide right turns!
Anyway, when we got to the end, Tomas and I decided to go on a little adventure. We were feeling confident in our kayak expertise and decided it would be fun to go down some small rapids further downstream and then try to paddle our way back up. Paddling up = Not fun. Actually it equaled impossible. We had to walk our kayaks along the bank and then get in mid stream when the water was up to our stomachs. Once I got in, I realized that the river was starting to pull me back down! So I paddled really hard and finally made it to the stopping point. Tomas was not as lucky. He got swept down, backwards. It did not end well, and for his dignity I will not relay the full details. However, he is ok and we got the kayak back – a while later. And now everything is smoothed over. Though I did learn that sometimes guys just don’t think things through all the way! Yes, Katherine, you were right. ;)
We made back to Wellington at 1am and I crashed. This week has been crazy with a midterm and paper due. By God’s grace I am energetic (though not entirely during class) and healthier than I was on Monday! God is packing my days full of blessings and healing! I cannot help but thank Him every moment of the day for all He does! And being out here, in the untampered countryside, I cannot help but awe at His wondrous beauty! Thank you Father!
P.S. This weekend is the trip to Mt. Doom. Today, I booked two things of particular interest: Skydiving over Lake Taupo, and bungee jumping into Lake Taupo – yes “into” it. They have the option to dip half your body in the water at the bottom of the bungee jump! More on that next time!
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