Black Water Rafting

Neil and I weren't planning on doing any activities in Waitomo but we watched the video and Lauren told us there was nothing else to do here so we went for the cheaper wet activity; The Black Labyrinth for $95.

Picked up in a van and brought to the centre to be wet suited up. We had to squeeze into wet wet suits which felt horrible. First a fleece jumper then wet socks, the dungaree style trouser top and then a jacket to zip over the top. This is where I met Laura helping her zip her jacket over her boobs. I also met Gail who was also struggling with her wet suit.

Back in the van we introduced ourselves to one another; name, present/past job, passion and favourite cake. We had a good group of people so the experience was fun. First we put our bums in rings and practiced jumping into a lake with them. We then walked uncomfortably through the forest. We climbed down into the cave following our guide. The whole experience was pretty exciting. The water was freezing and we walked through running water and along rocks we couldn't see as it was pitch black. We had helmets with lights so these helped to see what was happening sometimes. Laura and I spent most of the time clung to one another in the dark with Neil leading the way. We all sat in a line, tube to tube holding on to one another's boots floating through the canals. We all turned our lights off and looked up at the glow worms. It looked like a nights sky and was beautiful; a few moments of quiet contemplation. Along the way we had a couple of waterfalls to jump backwards over making sure we didn't bang our heads. They warned us to keep to certain sides of the cave as there were deep holes you could fall into and our guide Scuba showed us as he fell deep into one and didn't come back out for a while, returning slightly out of breathe. We met Cecil the eel eek! We had a chocolate fish (marshmallow covered in chocolate).

The whole experience was unique and exciting. We showered and changed and given tomato soup and a toasted bagel to warm us up.

Neil and I cooked a yummy dinner of veg, noodles and omelette and met Laura and Gail to go to the pub. We met Steph (Laura's best friend) and Rachael and Pete (a couple who met at Cardiff uni). Curly's bar was the only bar in town, sold snakebites and where we made friends with the drivers. Lauren, Bridgit and Mike were great. Lauren and the owner kept giving us lots of shots. Watching Steph suck a spilt shot off the bar was when I knew she was a keeper lol!