Day 102 - Hot Water Beach to Waitomo

Not the best nights sleep as the smoke alarm kept going off but up and on the bus to head to Waitomo.

On the way we stopped off at some mines to have a look around and walk through the tunnels. Possibly the midday beautiful mining site i have ever seen with a river flowing through it. Then onto Waitomo arriving at about 1.30pm.

All checked in and then straight to the Waitomo Caves for the Black Abyss caving experience. I wasn't sure whether i wanted to do this or not but I'm so glad i did. Started off with getting changed into a very fetching wet suit and gum boots. Then off to the caves, the first task was a 100ft abseil down a very narrow, dark hole which was amazing, loved the feeling of not being able to see the bottom. Next was a zip line through an opening full of glow worms, it was like flying through space. Then it was jumping into the water with a rubber tube and floating through the caves in darkness again staring up at the glow worms filling the darkness. Next was a series of walks/swims through the caves, crawling through narrow holes, crawling under rocks and climbing up waterfalls. I was first to make the climb out of the caves and it felt amazing, coming out into the darkness of night and selling the starry sky above. An absolute amazing experience, definitely one of my favourite things on this trip.

Then back to the hostel for dinner and down to the bar for a "few" beers.

An awesome day!