'STRAY' Tour - Auckland to Auckland (via just about everywhere)
Day 1
We left Auckland via Mt. Eden, another one of those big green hill/crater things caused by volcanic shennannigans yonks ago. We were headed south to the small town of Raglan, a small surf school set in the hills of North-Western New Zealand. 'Chops' our driver told us how this was only his second tour and we would probably end up getting lost. I have no problem with this as I booked up with 'Stray' because of their 'off-the-beaten-track' philosophy. And they were about $300 cheaper than Kiwi Experience (see Oz Experience) but do the same things. I worked out that if I stayed on the bus and didn't stop off for a couple of days anywhere, I could be in Queenstown (the adrenalin capital of the world) for my birthday.
Raglan turned out to be a quiet secluded little beach/surf town and we were on the outskirts of that, up in the hills. There was a bunch of log cabin-esqe chalet/dorms, a big common room cabin with pool table, big hi-fi, TV, books, sofas and eating area. Outside was a flying fox (a cross between a down hill button lift and a zip-line) which was fun, especially when we did it drunk about midnight.
We went down to watch the sunset and the surfers on a hill by the beach. It seemed like a good idea at the time as we'd all been used to seeing sunsets in Australia. We're in New Zealand now though. We weren't so much 'chilled' as 'bloody freezing.' I think we were already heading back to the cabins by the time the sun dipped behind the clouds.
We had a good night that night. A local fire dancer turned up and gave a performance, I beat some pissed Kiwi's at pool and I realised how much I've increased my alcohol tolerance levels as I was drinking loads of red wine all night and didn't really feel that drunk.
It was a good night for making new friends too. Having whinged about having no one to talk too in Auckland, I now had 20 prospective new best friends. I ended up becoming good mates with 4 nurses (3 Irish - Sinead, Caitrina and Tara and 1 Scouse - Laura) who were heading down to Queenstown at pretty much the same speed as I was.
Day 2
One of the things about NZ is the amount of completely insane things you can do for no other reason than 'because I can.' After going really high up and jumping off one of the worlds tallest towers, I thought I'd do the opposite and go underground. 'Black Water Rafting' is done in the caves at Waitomo. You sit in a large tyre inner-tube, get in some freezing cold water and then walk/float around underground in either pitch black or with the light on your helmet on. As is customary over here when doing something scary, we were dressed up in yet more silly clothes.
As I put on my freezing cold wetsuit, little wet-bootys, pastel coloured padded shorts, thick gardening gloves, hard over boots and finally my hard hat with light, I realised it was a bad idea having a pot of tea to warm up before doing this. "Don't go to the loo in your wetsuits" they said, "It wont make you any warmer, it'll just get trapped and you'll end up smelling like a urinal."
D'oh.
After testing if the tyres were the right size (and I think testing to see who was scared) by jumping backwards off a ledge into a wide, deep and bloody cold stream we went to a small opening in a hill and climbed down. The Jam 'Going Underground' playing in my head.
Floor. Steps. Big dark hole. Er, OK, You first...
We walked around in the freezing cold water through some rock corridors before jumping in the rings and paddling through a few low caves, the lights on our helmets illuminating our path. I can't really say I was scared down there, it was so completely different from anything I've done before, I think my brain was too busy sucking in every new feeling. Like accepting cold numbness in my fingers and toes. Ordinarily I would've worried about that, but the guide had previously said "Don't worry about any numbness in your extremities, its all part of the fun..." I started whistling the theme from Indiana Jones.
One of the things we went down there to see was the glow worms. We got to one small sloping corridor and the guides got us to turn our helmet lights off. As we sat there in complete darkness, we saw a few little tiny pin pricks of light just above our heads. The guide said we needed to make a noise to wake them and make them shine. A few seconds later, what sounded like a gun shot rang out in the darkness and echoed its way through the open rock.
Within a few seconds, the jet-black above us turned into what looked like the Milky Way. Hundreds of tiny pin pricks of light appeared, some lighter some darker. It really did look like a yellow florescent starry night. I immediately spotted Orion's belt and the Southern Cross, then realised I was still in a cave.
Over the next couple of hours we went through various caverns, following the water, sometimes walking, sometimes floating, sometimes with lights, sometimes without. We even had to do a big backwards jump over a 3m waterfall into a pool. Sometimes, we would hook up our legs on the person in front then travel in a big long conga line in pitch black under thousands of the tiny little natural lights.
I don't know why it was fun. It was freezing cold, as I paddled, more freezing cold water would go in my gloves and circulate out the warmer stuff my body had heated. I couldn't feel my feet which meant walking on slippery rocks was interesting. Then sitting in the ring meant my bum was always in the water, bringing new meaning to the phrase 'freezing your arse off.' And as for my other extremities, I was really glad I needed a wee or I might have inverted. Even after all of this, it was still fun. We were all always laughing or cracking jokes down there, and that's without the group activities like shouting 'Oi, Oi, Oi' after the bloke behind my realised how much it echoed when he shouted 'Oggie, Oggie, Oggie!' We got back to the centre and I had one of the nicest hot showers I've ever had, followed by hot soup and bagels.
We went on to the town of Hahei, where there's thermal activity underneath the beach. Apparently you can dig a hole when the tide is out, then sit in the water which is as hot as a bath. I say apparently because low tide was at 3.30am and the colder weather meant the hot water wasn't very hot anymore so we didn't do it.
It wasn't a wasted journey though, as they'd over-booked the dorms, I got to sleep in a caravan which I haven't done for years so that was fun.
Drinking red wine from the box, I again found myself not feeling very drunk. I reckon I could give Oliver Reed a run for his money (if he hadn't already died of drinking) then I saw the 5.8% on the side of the box and realised i'd have to drink pints of the stuff if I wanted any real effect. Ah well. It just goes to prove, when buying any important foodstuff - Always read the label.