Woke up on Friday and as expected was aching all over, my ankle and toe were also sore and swollen, I must of hit them on something after losing my boot. It was still raining so we moved onto Raglan, a town on the west coast famous for large waves.When we got to Raglan it finally stopped raining.Watching the news at the hostel they stated that they had had 2 months rain in the previous 24 hours, no wonder there was so much water in the cave I was in.We only stayed one night any by the morning yes it was raining again, they would have record rainfall when I am here.

Left Waitomo and headed north to Raglan hoping for better weather. Raglan is known for its big surf waves so had to head to Manu beech to take a look.They were big, just about big enough for a surfer to stand up in, as this is a bit beyond my surfing ability I just watched as 3 surfers did all sorts of tricks on the waves, the sort I have only seen on the TV before.We stayed one night in a nearby hostel (it was still raining on and off) and headed East on Saturday back towards the Corromandels were I am going to try and snorkel again in Gemstone Bay.

Stopped on the way and did a short hour and a half walk in the Karangahake Gorge, which turned into a 3 hour walk as we got lost and went the wrong way, could have done without as I still had a swollen toe, aches and bruises from the caving.

We spent the next 4 nights in a campsite in Opoutere waiting for the rain to stop, thankfully by Monday it was hot and sunny again.This was a really good site; there was a beach about 2 miles long to the left and an estuary to the right.We walked the beach and kayaked on Monday then on Tuesday we teamed up with some Kiwi's staying at the site and did a bush walk and then Kayaked out of the estuary and into a river, which took about 2 hours but had some really great scenery.

Today (Wednesday) I finally got to go snorkelling in Gemstone Bay, it was a bit could as I didn't have a wetsuit but I did see some fish and red weed stuff, nothing like the advertising pictures for it though, not really worth the trip back but I've done it now.When I had finally warmed backup we got some fish and chips and went to Hahei beach nearby.Only stayed for about an hour as even with sun cream on I was starting to burn.