Some things are better left unsaid...

I went to the Waitomo Caves today, and on the trip I did a little cave exploration. The cave in question, named The Lost World, requires that you abseil 100 meters from the surface into the cave. The harness and other equipment would obviously play an important part in safely making it to the bottom of the cave. After jokingly kidding with the guide to not underestimate how fat I truly was, he fitted me with a harness. Everything was good at this point, as I still had two feet firmly planted on solid ground. After attaching to the rope I would go down and starting down, the guide looks at me and tells me I would have been better off with a different harness. Hearing that I was going to have trouble with my descent was not the best thing, especially with 90 meters to go. The 20 minutes that followed were pretty intense, as you could imagine, but everything turned out OK. And what a ride it was. Descending down the rope was exhilarating, and the hike through the cave was tremendous. Granted, climbing a ladder for 30 meters is not fun, but when everything is pitch black around you, save for what your headlamp illuminates and the glow worms on the ceilings, the rush is incredible.

The cave experience was in sharp contrast to my journeys over the last few days, which included a tour of an uninteresting old town that does not resemble its old glory days, a boat ride on which our group was the only boat of the day not to see orcas or dolphins and my arts &crafts trip. Aside from sandboarding (riding a boogie board down a 15o foot tall sand dune), the entire trip was better suited for the 2 pm bingo bus that makes its way around Leisure Village.

Tomorrow brings with it a white water rafting trip, apparently through grade 5 rapids. Saturday brings with it a return to Auckland and the end of my trip on Sunday.