Kia Ora! We are in country number 15.5 (if we count Zimbabwe and Qatar as 0.25 each). New Zealand, the land of kiwi fruit, kiwi birds and chocolate fish. Oh, and it’s the adventure capital of the world too.

We had just one afternoon to spend in Auckland. We managed to squeeze in a hike up Mount Eden to see a panorama of the city, followed by an evening in the pub sampling the local beer and wine, and watching Djokavic overcoming Wawrenka in the semi-final of the Australian Open.

For one night only, we had returned to dormitory living. We have not missed this, and were swiftly reminded of why when one of our dorm mates proudly told us of his new job. His new job which involved being on call throughout the night. In a separate story he relished telling us about how often he slept through his alarm and phone calls….

Thankfully, there were no incidents in Auckland which required our new friend attention, and after a surprisingly good night of sleep we set off towards New Plymouth, stopping off at Waitomo Caves.

Waitomo Caves are famous for being home to a large population of glow worms. I strongly remember receiving a postcard from my grandparents when they visited the caves many years ago. My favourite toy at the time was a glow worm that lit up when you squeezed its tummy, and I decided back then that I must visit these caves! Twenty years later I finally made it. Originally we planned to just take the boat through the caves, but after a chat with the Famous Simon Sawyer, we decided to go black water rafting. For those of you who haven’t heard of this adventure sport, it is a mixture of caving and tubing on tractor inner tubes down an underground river.

We arrived slightly early, and decided to try out one of the ‘ten best short walks in New Zealand’. It took us along a river running through dense forest to some natural tunnels.

We returned to the rafting place and got kitted out in wetsuits, socks, wellies and jackets. The water was going to be freezing! We were then driven to the river, where we had to choose an inflated inner tube which was suitable for our derriere! After checking whether our bottoms fitted into the ring, we lined up on a platform over the river. We were told that this was our ‘wet run’ at the technique required to jump over waterfalls once in the cave system. The guide explained that we had to stand backwards on the edge, jam the inflatable over our bums and jump out as far as we could backwards. The platform was about 2 metres above the river, which was only about knee deep. Graham looked particularly concerned, and was convinced he was going to break several bones. This amused our guide, who then admitted that we were going to climb down the steps to the river, and do the jump from about one foot away. Everyone took a turn, with some making much bigger splashes than others. I’m a bit of a water baby, and happily jumped in without a second thought. I had forgotten to account for the icy cold water though, and the fact that my hands were holding the tube in place. This resulted in a gush of freezing water up my nose. This brilliant moment was captured on camera, but sadly we don’t have the photos to share with you as the company were charging $30 for them at the end.
Once we had all practiced the move, we exited the water and voted to walk up to the start of the caves. This was about a ten minute walk uphill through the forest. Once we got to the cave, we entered one at a time. We all had headtorches on, and started walking single file through the water. We spotted occasional glow-worms, but were mainly concentrating on following the group. Sometimes we walked through knee deep water, with the rubber rings on our shoulders. At other times the gap widened and we were able to get into our rings and float for a bit. At one narrow point we all perched against the wall and turned our head-torches off. We saw thousands of glow-worms all around us. They looked beautiful!

This myth was soon busted by our guides…. It transpires that glow-worms are quite vile little creatures. When they are born, it is very much survival of the fittest, and the baby glow-worm must eat its brothers and sisters to survive. They then start putting down traps to catch food. Once they digest food, they produce waste which glows in the dark. Yes folks, it is actually their poo which is glowing! The light then attracts more bugs, creating more food, more poo and more glow. After nine months of this they make a cocoon. When they emerge, they no longer have a mouth or a digestive system. So they spend two weeks mating before they die.

Once we had learned about these delightful little creatures, we all had a chocolate fish for a snack. These delicious little treats are a Cadburys New Zealand special. Luckily for me, Graham doesn’t like them.

We then carried on through the caves towards the river which would take us home. At the deepest point, we were 65 m below ground, and it was pitch black with some very narrow gaps. Eventually the path opened up and we reached the water fall. As we approached the waterfall, we were told to be careful as this area was known as the Human Blender. To demonstrate how the area got the name, one of the guides walked casually forward and disappeared from view. He had dropped feet first down a cavern under the water and was gone for several seconds. We were advised to stick to the edges and avoid the drop! Needless to say, this sounded like excellent advice. We stuck to the wall and when we got to the waterfall we put our training into practice. Jam your bum in the tyre, step backwards to the edge and jump as far out as you can. Once we were all safely in the river, we turned our torches off and started a race back to the open. We were floating along in the dark, guided only by the light given off by thousands of glow worms. It was beautiful and peaceful, or at least it would have been had we not all been so competitive!
Once we all emerged into the open, we squelched back down towards the minibus and headed back to the centre. After a delightfully hot shower we were given soup and bagels, before we headed on our way.

If any of you are considering a trip to New Zealand, take it from us and from Simon – the Famous Black Water Rafting Company are well worth a visit.