The tiny village of Waitomo is home to the glowworm caves and blackwater rafting, two things of obvious interest to a person such as myself. Being an intrepid traveler I eschewed the Kiwi bus which cost too much money and instead organized an intercity coach bus to go to and from this place, which is literally only on the map due to the caves and the tourism they induce. It was the first time I'd gotten a bus in New Zealand that wasn't part of an organized tour and I was a little nervous when it turned up late that I'd missed it. But no, it was just late, and took us on a lovely drive over to Waitomo, through the little town of Cambridge (sound familiar?) which had streets named Pope, Shakespeare, Coleridge and Wordsworth amongst others, which I found quaint.

Like I said Waitomo itself doesn't have much apart from the caves and so I set about sorting out a blackwater rafting tour for that afternoon, as the one I had booked online wasn't running due to insufficient numbers - it is so quiet here in the winter a lot of trips are unsure whether they are running until an hour or so before. Useful for someone like me who likes to be organized. Thus I was a bit flustered to say the least to find out when I arrived in Waitomo that it was cancelled and I'd have to find an alternative, as well as having to walk a mile to my hostel with my backpack. I wasn't in a brilliant mood when I checked in I'll put it that way!

Success! I found a trip that was running at a time I could do - the black labyrinth trip which promised glowworms galore. Being a lone traveler is a bit depressing when everyone else on the trips has a partner but I tend to just join in with conversations or trust my witty banter to encourage people to speak to me. Sometimes it works better than others haha. Everyone checked in at the rafting place and we were sent down to the changing area with Pip and Ben, our guides for the 2 hour journey underground, I was a little nervous after seeing 'The Descent and not being a fan of tiny spaces so it was with trepidation I listened to the safety briefing. Much like the alpine trek I did we once again had some sexy outfits to change into for the duration. This consisted of a wetsuit, undershirt, thick jacket wetsuit thing, wetsuit socks, wellies and helmets. Dragging the cold damp wetsuit on over my bikini was actually one of the worst things about the trip. If you've not had the pleasure believe me when I say it is not a pleasant experience.

That horror over with Ben drove us over to the cave system we'd be floating down. But not until I was volunteered to go first with the waterfall jump demonstration. The perils of being a lone traveller - you get ganged up on! Anyway, holding tightly onto my inner tube I grudgingly climbed down the steps and balanced on the edge of a little pier for such occasions. Ben counted down, 3, 2, 1 DON'T JUMP, thoroughly startling me as I'd already leapt backwards into the freezing cold river. You go a lot deeper under the water than I thought and I only just avoided a mouthful of manky river water. I did however get a lovely cold rivulet of water right down the back of my neck - delightful.

Everyone's practice leap over we wandered over to the little cave and once again I got to go first. Yay me! It wasn't actually that bad, the little cave we were in wasn't as claustrophobic as I'd worried and the headtorches helped too. I will say that clambering through cold, damp caves, splashing through a little stream that gets steadily swifter and more difficult to wade through, was surprisingly fun and the wetsuits helped keep you a lot warmer than anticipated. My fingers however were blue by the end of the trip, but I'm getting ahead of myself. As I was saying, you tramp along through the water, your wellies full of water, and suddenly you come to a little waterfall. It's time to jump! Not me first for a change though, and although it was only a short drop it's still nerve wracking as it's not the brightest place, there is potential to hit your head on the roof, and you just know that it's going to be freezing when you land at the bottom and the water goes down your neck. The caves themselves were impressive - stalagtites looming out of the dark, threatening to hit your head when you float through a low tunnel, and causing crazy shadows to leap out away from the beam of the torch. At one point I was sent down a little waterflow and, having trouble getting out of the tube at the end of it, nearly took poor Pip out to go swooshing down another tunnel. Disaster was averted though, I managed to tip myself out in time! After a couple of waterfalls and some floating along underground it was time to see some glowworms.

An interesting fact about glowworms. They are actually maggots. Yup, slimy disgusting maggots. Who are also cannibalistic. Not such a pleasant picture that is it. Oh and don't forget that it is actually their poo that is glowing. Whoever worked in marketing and came up with the term 'glowworm' deserves a gold star because it makes them sound much more pleasant. Despite the nasty nature of the things, seeing them in the flesh, well with the lights out, is an amazing experience. Once you've turned the headlamps off it takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust and then slowly this green pulsating light appears on the roof of the caverns, reminiscent of a starry sky. You see individual pinpricks of light flickering amongst a larger field of lights and it's almost hypnotizing. Had my neck not started to ache I could probably have sat there for hours. I'll tell you what a bedroom ceiling with glowworms on would be awesome - glow in the dark stars eat your heart out.

After more clambering about including shooting through some mild rapids on our inner tubes it was nearing the end of the trip. But not before Ben tried to scare everyone by hiding underwater at the end of a dark tunnel and jumping out. We were left in the dark to float our own way out of the tunnels staring at glowworms the entire way, exiting with a slight crick in the old neck region! Leaving the tunnels made me realise how cold my poor little fingers were - I couldn't even unfasten my helmet, it was like using sausages since I couldn't even bend them such was the cold. All worth it though. Now earlier I said that one of the worst things about the trip was getting into the cold wetsuits, the actual worst thing was taking them off again. Imagine peeling off wet socks on a grander scale. Outside. With someone needed to pull them off the ends of your feet. Finishing up in your swimwear and turning the wetsuit socks you were wearing upside down to find that you've brought half the river back with you. Yep that was definitely the worst part! Luckily blissfully hot showers, soup and bagels were waiting after this trial, as well as the option to laugh at some of the photos that had been taken, which sadly I didn't buy as I'm sick of paying for photographs, plus I was only on about 5.

Becca