warm tang & chocolate, the new zealand dating scene

We were leaving the isite the last time we blogged. In Waitomo. A small town that thrives off of the caving industry. I don't remember how many caves are in the area but its somewhere greater than 600.

An ambulance rushed by at full speed, heading in the direction of a cluster of caves. We both had a moment to think about a possible injury that might have occured on one of the caving adventures down the road. It wasn't until the next day that we found out a young british backpacker had been in a terrible quad bike accident and fallen to her death. It was horrible to see the headlines. So sensationalized. A reflection more so on the tourism industry, and less about the life lost. May her family find peace in this time - I cannot imagine what they must be feeling.

We did not go on a quad bike adventure, we chose the dangling abseiling/caving/rafting/glow worm combo tour. Rap, Raft & Rock. The lowest cost tour, with the smallest groups and the best trip indeed. You get a little bit of everything, and it's so personal.

At first, we thought we would be doing the trip alone with our tour guide Allan. A burly scottish fellow who has been doing tour trips in New Zealand for over four years. He was fiesty and hilarious. At the very last minute, a car full of three girls pulled up and they all signed on to the same adventure. It was now five of us. It was the greatest time.

This, so far, has been the only 'touristy' thing we have signed up to do. We don't foresee doing too many touristy things (aside from learning how to surf on the east coast and maybe sledging), but this was well worth the time. Plus, we needed to spend a few days of recovery after our last hike (to rest our aching bodies).

Six of us set out. Simone, an Australian, Danielle & Amanda - two American girls from Orange County, Brent and myself and our guide.

The road that leads to the cave owned by Rap, Raft & Rock is rough!!! You would not want to be taking your own vehicle down this windy farm road at the speeds Allan took the company van. It was all part of the adventure.

You arrive at two large cargo boxes, a tub of water, a covered rain boot area hosting a large collection of white galloshes, and an enclosed shelter with barely two rooms and two showers. Our oasis of caving preparation.

"Get into your bathing suits".

It's winter. What?

So cold. We all line up in our bathing suits and socks and await receipt of our wetsuits. I always thought that wetsuits were warm. And maybe they are a lot warmer than not having them on, but when it's really chilly outside and the wetsuit you have to squeeze into is already wet, you are freezing and very uncomfortable.

The dressing stage was entertaining. You have the coverall wetsuit, follwed by the jacket, then colourful (you can pick your prefered colour between dijon, faded pink, red or brown) over pants to protect the wetsuit, rubber boots, the harness to save your life and the lovely helmet covered with electrical gadgets to ensure you have light down below.

I couldn't smell that day - woke up a little stuffy - and man, was that ever a life saver. Apparently, what we were wearing -- not the nicest thing to smell. :) I wonder why. Could be the cave, could be the fact that you are without bathroom for 5 hours after putting on the suit (maybe one too many people couldn't make it...), who knows.

We continued to drive down the windy road to come upon a grotto with rope attached the fence.

Side story - the most adorable newborn sheep had been deserted by its mother and was bah'ng so loudly for attention. The two orange county girls were biologists and went to see the sheep. The moment they picked him up, he quieted right down. He just wanted love. It was so wonderful. Sadly, we did have to leave the sheep and pay attention to our training. He didn't make it easy. Once we put down the sheep, it started to follow us and kept bah'ng for more attention while Allan was trying to explain safety procedures. :)

We did a 'training abseil' down a hill with this thingamajig that is attached to our harness that is there to save our lives. This one girl couldn't figure out the thingamajig and clipped in and when she stepped down the hill and put pressure on the clip, it flew open.

"Oops, I'm dead", she exclaimed (note - we are standing on a hill, and in no way are in danger).

I think it was our nerves, but Danielle and I just started laughing. To a point of having tears in our eyes. Cause if it was that easy to unclip going down the actual abseil, WOW...that would be scary.

I inverted her thingamajig for her so that it wouldn't snap open like that anymore.

We all passed the test and moved on to the platform. A 27m abseil. I was last - how I ended up there, I don't know, but it SUCKED. I should have been in the middle. Ugh. One by one, they all left me, as Allan continued to make cracks at our fears and at the rolls in our bellies caused by the outfits we were wearing (four girls on the trip - why would you make fun of our rolls!). When it came to my turn, I didn't even want to go near the edge to have my harnessed clipped in. I had no choice, so instead, I didn't look down. Although, I did get a quick glimpse of the four helmets already down at the bottom. :(

Abseiling is easy - you look on the horizon, so as long as you don't think about the height thing, you're fine. What sucks in abseiling is if you weigh nothing. I was in at 48kg at the office (you are weighed in to start - cause they need to know who to watch out for in the bigger rapids), and apparently at that weight, you can't be smoothly abseilled into the cave. I had to feed my own line - so it was kind of a jerky ride. But I made it. :)

Your boots have holes on the bottom, so the moment you touch the underground river, water rushes up your feet. So cold. I was the last to adjust.

The trip was so interesting. You each get a tube and walk along the river on the side the guide tells you to follow (sometimes you have to cross the rapids, in which case he stands in the middle of the river in case you are swept away - the water is STRONG!), cross over two-wired bridges, cling to the rock side as you make your way down the cave. We spent some time learning about glow worms in the dark (basically cave maggots who cannot shed their poo - so their bums light up due to the gases mixing - amazing!), climbed through some muddy hills/caves (bonus - if you are small, you fit quite comfortably through these crevices), climbed through dark cave areas, until you meet the river again.

Then we black water rafted. Tubbing down a river in a cave with your headlights off. Down rapids. You are told not to worry if you fall out of the tube, and that someone will catch you on the other side should something happen to you. But what they don't tell you is how deep the water is. I was the only one on the trip who couldn't swim, and was also a concern with the rapids. They didn't want to lose me in the river. :)

I got it in my head that if I didn't go down each rapid facing down the river, I would flip out of my tube and run into problems. So, I decided, since we are already bumping into the walls, I might as well spin myself around to face the direction of the water if the opportunity arises.

Bad idea.

The rock surfaces are sometimes super sharp. I hit a rock face rather hard at one point and gashed open my left hand. (it's slowly healing - but the internal bruising is pretty intense) But it did keep me on my tube. :) Brent fell out. Heh heh. The other thing they tell you is that you can't sink your butt too far into your tube or you might come into contact with rocks. I think Brent was adjusting himself (for fear of being too butt heavy in the tube's centre), and fell right out as he came across a rapid. :)

He's fine. Only one other girl fell out of her tube, and they all made it safely back in. :)

At the end of our tubing adventure (they stop you before you hit a 7m high waterfall), we pulled over to the side for a surprise snack. Warm tang and dairy milk chocolate. I can't explain how wonderful this was. A really good sugar boost to get our energy up for the upcoming trudge up river. It was Allan's way of 'wooing' the girls. :) Ah, the new zealand dating scene. How romantic. Pooey maggots, warm tang and chocolate.

But do try warm tang on a cold day.

We trudged our way up the rapids we just tubbed down, squeezed through yet another tight spot, found a cave weta and the long legged cave spiders, then found our way to the cave's opening, where a 20m rock climb awaited.

It was great.

At the top of the hill, we found our dear baby lamb friend once again. It was hiding behind a rock, bah'ng loudly again. It was heartbreaking. Night was falling quickly. Danielle and I took the baby lamb up the hill towards a herd of sheep in hopes that they might come and take him in. He was sooo tiny, weighing under a pound. So soft. So wonderful. The lamb I always wanted to own in New Zealand, and I couldn't take it home. :( It was heartbreaking.

I don't think the other sheep took him in. Allan said that if he found him the next day, he would try to take it in and find it a good home.

Back to the cargo boxes to shed our caving gear, watch Allan stir wetsuit stew in the tub, and each jumping into the hot showers - so necessary considering how much colder it was leaving the cave in the dark.

A warm cup of soup and a screening of our tour photos awaited us at the office.

:)

All in all, it was a lovely time. We spent that night at the hostel (right next door to the office) and planned our next leg of the trip.

Early in the morning, we checked out and head back to Otarahanga (which had delicious burgers to offer us the night we first arrived - mmm hawaiin burgers!!!) to visit the farmers market and buy a heep of fresh organic fruit for under 5$!!! Fruits and veggies are ridiculously priced in NZ - so it was a wonderful change to pay so little for such delicious fruit. We also tried our first taste of Tip Top New Zealand ice cream. I had goody goody gumdrops and hokey pokey ice cream, Brent had cookies and cream & chocolate (not so adventurous). :)

Brent's first attempt was a failure, as three or four licks in - he dropped his ice cream on the ground. Poor ice cream.

Don't worry - he got another serving. It was only $1.80 for two large scoops.

On the road again, to Taumaranui. Oh, how we'll miss the mooing cows from Waitomo.