Hey hey again,
Well we seem to have covered a lot of ground since we last wrote! We went to the Waitomo caves, and they were stunning. White limestone caves underground (the Cathedral is about 14m underground, and the acoustics are so good that Sting and other artists have performed there) were simply stunning. Our guide had a robust sense of humour, and we really enjoyed understanding everything he said! (A novelty for us)... the caves were beautiful - very difficult to describe them, but some of them looked like pavlova pudding, and there were stalagtites and stalagmites everywhere... We walked through them, got into the boat (he did ask us to get 'into' the boat, rather than falling down the side of it), and then paddled on an underground river in the complete dark (quite scary). Suddenly, the top of the cave was studded with little green LED lights, like in a nightclub. They were glowworms (we checked that they were not fake). Twinkling away, looked very pretty. So worth the 14 quid we paid for the tour. Absolutely beautiful.
We then headed up to Whitianga, and found that the hostel we wanted to stay in was booked up, so we were shown to Adele, the lady in the hostel next door, and for the same price we had a massive kitchen, big sitting room (with TV), bathroom, laundry, our own room... big garden out back... our own little holiday chalet, and we only had to share it with one other girl. We loved it, and Adele was hilarious. We loved it so much, we decided to stay another night... so the next day, armed with Adele's spade, we set off to Hot Water Beach and started digging. Volcanic activity in the area means that certain areas of the beach are scalding hot - the water gets up to 65 degrees celcius. We dug ourselves a hole and sat in it. First bath for the other 2 in 6 months! Very relaxing. Then headed to Cathedral Cove, and it was beautiful. A huge arch on the beach (the cathedral), - so spent a few hours relaxing in the hot sun. Stunning (photos are put on the internet).
Yesterday we had another productive day - Stopped at Katikati for a coffee (no other reason to stop there), found a beach covered with shells in Tauranga, ate our lunch in the park in Rotorua, and headed off to the Wai-o-Tapu geothermal area. We walked about for 2 hours, and saw the most incredible things. It was nature being simultaneously horrific and beautiful (the BBC filmed 'Walking with Dinosaurs' in the area). Due to the volcanic activity locally, there are plumes of sulphur bellowing out of the ground, boiling mud pools, and steaming lakes that are coloured red, yellow or green depending on the minerals. Love being completely taken aback and surprised by nature. It's definitely not something that is similar to anything else that I've seen, which is very refreshing. Quite often now, we see things and think, yeah, this is great, but it was much better (and cheaper) in Guatemala, Mexico etc etc.... so very pleased to be shocked out of that bad habit!
Came down to Taupo last night, and ran errands and spent time trying to find places to eat and drink (we left it kinda late, oops)... We're heading to Wellington today, and Hayley and J are hoping to do a skydive this morning (mental people, I'm holding the camera)... if the weather clears up a bit. So all's good, and we are thoroughly enjoying New Zealand.
Love to everyone, from us all,
Alice xxx
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