Black water rafting in the glow worm caves

We woke up at 6 at hot water beach as we had a long drive to Waitomo - with the jet lag it was such a massive struggle! Our bus driver had also organised a walk to the gorges - we were very tired and reluctant but it was worth it. The gorges are old gold mining sites so there were lots of purpose built bridges and lookouts to explore. 

We spent a lot of the day on the bus but arrived in Waitomo about 3 O'clock. The hostel was lovely and we all had single beds instead of bunk beds - such a luxury! Waitomo is famous for its caves and the glow worms that live in them. The girls and I had signed up for black water rafting in the caves so we headed out. Our instructor was so lovely (and gorgeous which is always a bonus) and put us all at ease as we were all slightly nervous! We all had to wear head to toe wetsuits, jackets, helmets and white rubber boots which was not a very good look! 

Black water rafting includes sitting on rubber tubes and throwing ourselves off mini waterfalls in the caves which is definitely scarier than it sounds, particularly because it was so dark! Typically when they went to demonstrate this on open water, I was picked to be the test dummy which was very embarassing because I ended up choking on water. It's very hard to describe how incredible black water rafting was but it was such a laugh doing it with such a lovely group of girls. It was also very very beautiful, especially when we drifted through the caves in the dark looking up at the glow worms. They honestly looked like stars they were so dazzling! It also helped that our hot instructor serenaded us with a bit of Jeff Buckley! It was also fascinating to learn about the cave formations and glow worm life cycles - something I never thought I'd hear myself say! If you ever have time, Google it because the glow worms have the most bizarre life cycle I have ever heard of! We were down in the caves for about 2 hours and by the time we got out we were absolutely freezing! When we got back to the rafting centre we were treated to hot showers, tomato soup and bagels, all of which were very needed. Our bus all decided to hit up the only bar in town, Curly's, for a few drinks. It was so great to hang out with our bus because we have such a great group of people! Although I only planned to have a few drinks I ended up getting fairly drunk, which is just so typical me. But it's safe to say I slept very hard that night after such a fantastic day! 

Hannah 

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