So we were standing in the morning chill outside our hostel for 45minutes before the bus turned up. That was an extra 45minutes of sleep I missed out on. To top it off, out steps the butchest woman called Curry (no joke), proudly lesbian, with a few extra gyres round the waist and builders bum you could park several bikes in, who blatantly didn't mind the fact that she had kept us waiting. A few angry grumblings from passengers, me being one of them, and we were on our way to a supermarket to pick up some supplies for staying in hahei, a small coastal town east of aukland. I made friends with a Canadian couple, Katie and Brennan, who seemed to be on the same page as me, who was staying in the same room as me. We stayed in a campsite style dorm with a kitchen and outdoor BBQ. After dumping our bags we hopped in the bus again the head to the hot water baths. This was a beach is located on top of a tectonic plate which caused hot springs to bubble up to the surface near the shore. There were dozens of people, locals and tourists, armed with spades to dig to the lovely warm water below. Katie and I mistakenly hopped into an abandoned hole just to realise the water in it was boiling, actually boiling. I scalded my feet quite badly much to the amusement of random old folk who were in a nice warm pool of their own nearby. Smug old fogeys. Soon though we had managed to push some poor young girl out of her pool and sat in there enjoying the bath-like water and joined the old people in laughing at unsuspecting victims in the boiling pool.
After we got back to camp the Canadian couple, a german guy called michael and I all thought I was a good idea to run to cathedral cove, a picturesque beach about an hour and halfs walk away. Most people either did the springs or the cove but we were determined to do both before the sun went down. In the end, after running up hill and down dale, we came to the cove. It was a beach sheltered by an unusual formation of huge rocks and cliff faces made from milky white limestone. The sea had gradually worn away the rock forming caves and eventually these would collapse forming small islands of their own. Rock formation in geography just came flooding back to me! After some funny pictures around the cove we headed back to the campsite for dinner and bed. I never slept so soundly but apparently I gibbered away in my sleep like it was going out of fashion.
It was an early start the next morning to get to Raglan, town on the west coast famous for it's surfing. By the time we got down to the beach it was about 3pm but I was determined to go surfing...and stand up! I drag the board he gave me down to the water and had absolutely no luck. It wasn't until a german guy came up to me and told me my board was really small for the size of the waves that I dragged it back up to beach to get another board. Second time round was a blast. I stood up, turned it and even managed to swing myself round so I was sat on the board facing the opposite direction and still surfing. Pretty nifty I'd say. I was on a bit of a high that evening when we got back but I was shattered so while the rest of the group went on a boat tour at sunset (too cold for that milarki), a handful of people and I stayed in the lodge. We made full use of the free sauna, had dinner and shared stories of our home country an countries we had been to. It was the prefect chilled out evening I needed.
A half seven start again the next morning and we discovered the bus was overbooked. Thank god I had booked mine way in advance but some had not booked the next leg of their journey as they didn't know what they were doing at that time. The canadian couple were two of these people. Unfortunately the bus was too full to take them and we had to say our goodbyes. Stupid Stray bus.
Eventually though we found ourselves at Waitomo caves, the famous limestone caves on the west coast. From the cave diving base we got kitted up in the tightest wetsuits ever, helmets wig the cool little flashlights and sexy rubber boots. We looked burnt oompalumpas. From there we waddled down to the opening of the cave where we squeezed our way down to the freezing cold waters below. The caves were beautiful, with glow worms glinting on the cave ceiling like green fairy lights, guiding the way for us as we scrambled over rocks both smooth and sharp. It was surprising how much light the worms emitted, especially when reflected off the dark water. We floated down long underground rivers in rubber rings and wriggled through the tiniest tunnels. It was a great experience and such a laugh. When we finally reached the surface we trekked up the hills to the base. I must have worked off all three meals that day through caving in that tight wetsuit.
After a couple of stupid photos, as one does, we had a shower and headed to a maori tribe in maketu further to the east. There we met Uncle who introduced us to his tribe and fed us an amazing meal. We watched the tribe perform traditional songs and an 8year old scare the bejesus out of us with the Haka. That evening the lads learnt the Haka, the traditional warrior dance and the girls learnt the p...which basically consisted of swinging a ball on a string around which was used to strengthen their wrists (unsure why). It was such good fun and the girls couldn't help but laugh at the guys pounding their arms and thighs in their little grass skirts. Hehe. After the concert (as they called it) we spent a bit of time on the beach before heading back and getting ready for bed. We slept on mattresses in a huge hall so basically it's the most amount of people I've slept with in the same room which was interesting. I wonder what the hell in getting up to tomorrow.