This trip has been amazing so far, and it continues to impress. I’ve gone to some pretty neat places the last few weeks; it seems as though New Zealand has an endless supply of adventure time, even while having to fit around work! I still get that feeling of “wow, I can’t believe I live here? Is this still real?” at least once a week. It’s a pretty awesome feeling. Living at the beach has a ton of perks. One being that I’m finally getting my Florida tan back, after Minnesota stole it away from me. The other perk is that there are a TON of other beaches that are just a short drive away! A couple of weekends ago, Dan and I went over to Whitiroa Beach, which is less than a 30 minute drive north of Waihi. It was real cool; we walked along the rocks and tried to make friends with the crabs, who were having none of it. There were loads though! When we got back to Waihi, we attempted night swimming in the ocean, but I was far too cold. Then during the week, Sam and I grabbed ice cream and headed over to Bowentown to watch the sunset. We got what we thought was a small box of ice cream sandwiches, but as it turns out they were just blocks of ice cream with wafers and you had to put them together yourself. They really make you work for that ice cream! It was still good though.
I had last Thursday off, so Sam and I finally crossed off one of the things on our to-do list: the glow worm caves in Waitomo! We went on a “black water rafting” tour, so we were led through about 1.5 kilometers of cave by our tour guides. We were equipped with incredibly attractive wetsuits and helmets (it seems as though this trip is the trip of ridiculous outfits...) and given inner tubes to float through the caves in. We even had to jump off a couple of small waterfalls backwards, so we’d land in the tubes! Our tour guides were a lot of fun, and the group of people we were with were as well; we have some pretty hilarious photos from the trip. I can tell you a little about the caves, but unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of the glow worms because we weren’t allowed to bring cameras into the caves. Which is definitely smart. It’s pretty dark down there. Anyways, the caves were discovered by a Maori tribe, and now a lot of them are sacred ground, so we can’t go in them. But there are still over 5 kilometers of tunnels and caves that people are still allowed to explore. Our tour was just about 2 hours inside the cave, and we only went 1.5 kilometers, so you could spend quite a lot of time down there! At one point, our tour guides had us all in a big chain sitting in our tubes and they shut the lights off, taking us through the tunnel in the pitch dark. Seeing the glow worms was amazing and pretty aweinspiring. They lit up the ceiling of the caves like stars. Sam and I had especially wanted to go to this because New Zealand is the only place in the world where these glow worms are found. But now I’m going to ruin it for you: these glow worms aren’t actually worms….they’re really flies! Or more specifically, the larvae of Arachnocampa luminosa, which is a type of fly. They have a sticky string that hangs down to catch their food, and the energy that is created by them eating is expelled as the little blue light that we can see. When they hatch, they live for two days in the cave in order to mate before their lives end. Even though we were lied to, Sam and I agreed they were pretty cool. The next weekend, Dan was back for another competition. Which ended up getting cancelled, which meant more exploring time! On the Saturday, we drove a couple hour north of Waihi to Coromandel Town, and went on the driving creek railway train ride. This is a railway that was built entirely by hand by this man named Barry Brickwell who moved to Coromandel Town in 1961 to be a full-time handcraft potter. His kilns are still all around the railroad. He started the railroad in 1973 and it is now 3 kilometers long. He also has a passion for forest restoration: since 1973 he has been planting native trees on his 22 hectares of land (which is about 54 acres). The train ride takes you through the forest and you get to learn about native plants as well as about the railroad. At the end of the ride up, we stopped at the "eyefull tower" which gives a gorgeous view of the surrounding area, and you can even see where Auckland would be, since we're right across the harbour from it. It was really cool, and it was fun to do something a little bit different. Adventures aren’t entirely about places though. After the train ride, I also tried smoked eel for the first time and I liked it. We went from there down this partially paved, partially gravel road in search of a waterfall, but on the way we pulled over to hang out with some pigs! This older man was standing on the side of the road with his 65 (yes, you saw that number right, 65) pet pigs and telling people who stopped all about them. He let me hold one named Millie, she was so cute! He was so nice, but definitely nutty. He lives in a hut with the pigs, and when we asked if he named them all he said “no, because they keep getting nicked” which is so sad! And Dan and I both think he hasn’t worn shoes in a couple decades. We made it to the waterfall, called Waiau Falls, and we even jumped off of it! It was a pretty fun and crazy day. Since Dan’s comp was cancelled, we spent Sunday at the beach and then drove to the Mount with Sam to climb Mount Maunganui. It was super hot, but definitely worth it. Sam and I also went with Jess to the waterfall at Karangahake this week...in the pouring rain! Which included walking through a very dark tunnel with no light. Definitely an adventure. I’ve got a waterpolo game this weekend, so I’ll give you all a sports update next time!
2 Comments
Sophie
2/2/2016 05:16:06 pm
Im glad you loved Mount Maunganui. It was one of my favorite spots. Could you see the ship wrecked boat just off the coast?
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Anya
6/3/2016 10:34:36 am
Just figured out how to reply to comments!! Haha I did see the boat in question!
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Meet AnyaHi, Hola, Bonjour, Ciao!
I’m Anya Phillips, a data analyst and travel enthusiast who is always on the lookout for the next adventure! Categories
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