Caving in Waitomo

We were made to rub our faces with mud (it's a long story) which is why we look like miners. Do you like the wellies? At this point we had jumped into the water with our inflatable tubes and were just about to float through part of the cave to look a the glow worms - very nice!

Nic looking very cool at the beginning.

Me looking happy before the mud face-smearing!

Te Kuiti/Waitomo caves/Auckland

We had some time to kill in Waitomo so we went to the 'shearing shed' and watched an Angora rabbit being sheared. It was a very disturbing experience! Look at this poor bunny. Doesn't he look sad?
The next pic shows one of the poor creatures on the rack after he's been done. The device also rotates so they can shear underneath. Very bizarre.


Here we are at the entrance to a cave in which there are millions of glow worms. The worms are actually maggots.
Here are the fishing lines attached to the maggots. They use these to catch insects to eat.

Here is a rather large Weta living happily in a cave. They are like very large grasshoppers.

Here are the bones of a Moa. The bird was hunted to extinction by the Maoris hundreds of years ago. They were like a very big emu.

Us at the entrance to another cave. We just can't get enough of them! The following day we did a more adventurous trip and went caving for about 2 hours, including black water rafting on inflatable tubes - very cool! The trip was very enjoyable and quite physical. We squeezed through gaps and swam through cave water - all very Indiana Jones!!!

Gorgeous sunset in Te Kuiti at the farm hostel.

Now after many months and many adventures we're back in Auckland. Can you see what it says at the bottom of the big crater? This is a pic from the top of Mt Eden.

We are going diving at Poor Knights in a couple of days and then it's back to Auckland before we fly to Sydney on Tuesday. Wow! Where have the last 6 months gone. We will miss you NZ.

Rotorua

These are 2 pics of Huka Falls. Our new friend Sue picked us up from Taupo and we stayed at her lovely farm house in Reporoa. On the way to her house we stopped to look at this stunning place.
Here is Nic in Rotoroa's mad park - bubbly and steamy things everywhere!
A lovely pukeko bird in the park too.
Me and our very kind friend Sue when she dropped us off in Rotoroa (the home of the bad egg smell)

The very impressive Lady Knox Geyser.

Champagne lake - more mad colours.

Devil's bath and me.
Frying pan lake.
Inferno lake.
Terraces.

Skydive Taupo!!! 10/3/2010

At last we did a sky dive. We'd tried and failed in Wanaka but in Taupo it happened. We went up to 12000 feet and the views were immense. We free falled for 45 seconds and then had 5 minutes of falling with the chute. We felt like we had wings. We were on cloud 9 and couldn't stop smiling. Very exhilerating and one of the best things we've ever done. Can't wait to do it again in Australia.

Wanganui/Raurimu/Turangi

We got the bus to Raurimu and did our 3 day canoeing trip. I unfortunately had to do some paddling and it was quite hard work. The scenery was amazing and it was very peaceful until we hit some large rapids on day 3 and capsized. Luckily there were some other people eating lunch at a nearby beach who came and rescued our boat and me. It was all rather exciting!!!


This is the bridge to nowhere - it was completed in 1936 when all the settlers had gone!

This is the Mauri meeting house at the campsite that we stayed at on the 2nd night.

On Saturday we managed to get a lift to Turangi and on Monday we did what is supposed to be one of the best one day walks in the world - the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. You start at 1100m and climb to 1886m. It was easier that expected and the views were out of this world!

The last time this erupted was in 1995!

This is me trying not to fall on the steep loose ground.

The wrist is still not better and we may be forced to hire a car - nightmare or what!!!

Sprain stops Play. Whataroa/Lake Mahinapua/Greymouth/Reefton/Maruia Springs/Hanmer Springs/Kaikoura/Picton/Wellington/Wanganui (18/2/10 to 1/3/10)

Yes we are back in the North Island after cycling up the stunning west coast to Greymouth and then getting over Lewis Pass to Kaikoura. En route we popped in to see Brian and Julia who we'd stayed with 2 months before and we had a lovely chat over a cup of tea and some cake.

The weather continues to be roasting hot. We spent our last night in the South Island in lovely Kaikoura and then got the train to Picton and the ferry to Wellington. Very sad to be leaving the South Island but looking forward to doing some fun stuff in the North.

We got off the ferry and headed on the dual carriage way to the city centre with a huge tail wind when I slipped on some railway tracks and fell heavily on the road. Luckliy the traffic stopped and we got me and bike (and broken-off saddle) off the road. I got some first aid at the IT store next to us and then we pushed our bikes for about and hour to the hotel.

Anyway, I've got various aches, pains and bruises and I've sprained both wrists. The right one is pretty much OK now but I've done something to the left one which means I have to rest it for 10 days!!! This means no cycling. We got the bus from Wellington to Wanganui and instead of 2 nights we'll be here for 4. On Thursday we plan to do a canoeing trip on the remote Wanganui river and Nic will paddle whilst I sit and enjoy the view!

Can't believe we only had 2 weeks of cycling left to do and this happens. We've now cycled nearly 6000km and only had 600 left!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the nice sunset photos; these will have to keep you going until we do something worth photographing! Keep following us.