We headed towards the town of Waitomo to do some caving and see some glow worms. I'd selected to do the Tumo Tumo Tubing which the girls and Stefan, Ryan and Devon were also doing as well as a Danish couple called Morton and Mia.We went to the office at 10am and got taken to an area to get into all the gear.We put wetsuits and jackets on and wellies and a hard hat and then we walked to the entrance of the cave.As we were approaching them I suddenly remembered that I was claustrophobic as I saw how small the hole was!We had to climb down a ladder through a really tight hole and then it opened up at the bottom where we had to wade through the water to a large area.It was so dark even with my head torch on that I was slightly concerned that I might be going in the wrong direction but I was relieved when I heard voices.The trip in the caves consisted of swimming through water, joining up as a human train without our lights looking at the glow worms which light up the tunnels of the cave and look like stars in the night sky, riding on an old car tyre through an underground network, jumping off a rock onto a rubber ring and floating along it and going down a water slide.WE had to climb through one tunnel in the pitch black which started to make me panic as I didn't like being the last one to go through it as I felt a bit scared - luckily I'd seen it wasn't a very long tunnel as I'd seen one of the guys emerge the other side (the guides hadn't wanted to see it as it was all part of the surprise though) so I knew I wouldn't be in there for too long.The whole trip lasted 4 hours and was really fun.

In the afternoon we headed across to the East Coast of the Bay of Plenty to Maketu and what was going to be our cultural experience of staying in a marae (meeting house) and meeting some local people from a Maori tribe.When we arrived we got welcomed by Uncle Boy who is the leader of the tribe and we then had a traditional group meal and then we headed to the room next door and had to go round the whole group touching noses as a traditional Maori greeting which was embarrassing as you have to get up close and personal with people you don't really know but also really funny.Then the guys had to learn the haka and the girls learnt the art of the poi (balls on long string) where you basically have to swing the ball and catch it and swing your hips.The whanau (family) did a show for us first to demonstrate the haka and show some dances and songs and then we split the groups in two to go and practice.It was really funny practicing as it was quite hard to catch the ball and be in time with each other.We had a real laugh practicing and it was a good way of getting to know each other.After lots of practicing we were told to make lots of noise when the guys entered so we didn't let them down as we went crazy when all 18 guys came in topless with their shorts and trousers on with their traditional skirts on over them. They did the haka for us and they were really good and me and the girls around me were like over-excited school girls as we watched the show.Then it was our turn to entertain and it suddenly didn't look quite so impressive.

After our performances we saw the professionals do the haka again and then we had a group photo taken. It was 10:30pm by the time we started drinking so we started drinking quickly by introducing some drinking games.Then we all headed to the beach.It was a lot further than we thought it would be so to keep warm I asked Ryan if he could cuddle me as we walked.When we got to the beach the guys found some firewood and Stefan made a really impressive fire. I decided to paddle in the sea but the water was quite rough so I ended up getting wetter than I'd planned.We all continued drinking on the beach and Ryan and I were still cuddling so we ended up kissing.About 2am the fire was starting to die out so we slowly headed back and then Catherine, Stefan, Ryan and I stayed up a bit longer and then by about 3:30am we decided to head to bed too.In a traditional manner we were all sleeping in one big room on mattresses which felt like a giant sleepover.Luckily there didn't seem to be any snorers though!