Kerry from Derry

So after a couple of days in Raglan it was time to move on to Rotorua via a small little town called Waitomo.

Waitomo is famous for its gloworm caves and there a lots of options on how to explore them. I decided on Tumu Tumu Toobing which involved quite a bit of caving and then some black water rafting involving inner tubes and an underground river. It was a very stylish option too......full wetsuit, hard hat and white wellies! The whole thing took about 3 hours and was worth every penny of the $95 it cost.

We were a group of about 10 with 2 guides - after strolling through a rather hilly field we came upon the entrance to the caves and made our way down, although it was doubtful whether a few would make it through the tiny entrance...apparently its not about the size - its all in the angle of entrance (now no straying thoughts here please!). Anyway we all made it in - turned the torches on and away we went! It was actually quite challenging - very sharp rocks, narrow passageways, swimming through raging torrents of water (well maybe not raging but I am allowed a little artisitic licence here) before we made it to the inner tubes, turned all the lights of and gently floated our way down the river with only the gloworms to looks at - very cool!

I think its about time for another science lesson.....did you know that gloworms don't have any way to have a poo? So what in fact looks like really nice glowing things is in fact sh*t? Apparently the male only lives for 3 days so spend his time having all the fun he can manage and then shi*s himself before making his way to the top of the cave where he'll stay and glow......or something like that anyway! So we came to the end but not before negotiating our way through ankle break alley - extremely sharp rocks and not much margin for error, but yet again the old Dallat strenght shone through and I made it out injury free. I really enjoyed this and given the opportunity wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

ROTORUA

After we had finished our various caving activities we moved on to Rotorua - probably the most volcanic active area in New Zealand.

The first thing you notice is the smell - it stinks of rotten eggs! This is basically the sulpher in the ground - then you go for a wander around and you notice the steam rising up over the parks, gardens and even residental streets, then you go to investigate further and you come across bubbling hot springs and mud pools spitting up mud - very wierd but really quite fascinating. There is also a place called Hells Gate which is just minutes from the city centre where you see geysers of hissing, steaming, scalding water roar from deep within the earth’s crust and hurl spray 100ft into the air. The town is surrounded by huge hills which are dormant volcanoes and remind you that potentially this could be a dangerous place! But they haven't had an eruption in 1800 years so reckoned I was safe enough - melting pot of goethermal activity or not!

I stayed in a hostel called Hot Rocks - clever eh? Wasn't bad at all - had a swimming pools and 2 spa pools with natural water piped directly through full of all that sulphuric goodness - bloody hot though!

Great town for shopping too! Stayed for a couple of days again and again mwet some great people so still all good...or as the Kiwi's say Sweet Brother!

HAHEI

Well once again it was time to move on - after leaving the Bay of Islands it was back to Auckland for a couple of days before heading off on my trip around New Zealand. The next destination was Hahei which is in the Coromandel region - unfortunately I didn't get to see much of it as I had developed a stinking cold and was in the foulest mood I had been in since Ireland got knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers! Think it has something to do with the diving - plays havoc with the sinuses and apparently the water pressure forces all the crap out.

Anyway I spent most of the day and night in bed being miserable while everyone else was cooking up a storm on the old barbie... Not much else to tell here really as I missed it all! Shame really as there was a kayak trip around the coast and into the caves which would have been good but ce la vie and all that - its only a couple of hours from Auckland so I can do it when I come back from Oz in the New Year.

RAGLAN

So on to Raglan the next day - Raglan is famous for one thing and that is surfing! They have a Rip Curl event here every year or so I'm told anyway. When the swell is just right you can surf one wave over a mile across the beach, hard to believe but true.

As I wasn't quite over my cold I got off here for a couple of days to rest and recuperate. The hostel we stayed in was great - really secluded set up in the rainforest, with only the birds and gloworms to keep you awake of an evening - absolutely fantastic sunsets as well. So what did I get up to? Well I managed to make it down to the beach....no mean feat let me tell you, was a good hour's stroll (queue lots of hills and knee crunching steps!) away. The beach itself is black - all volcanic sand and not many people on it at all - only competition for the top spots were the surfers and a few other sun worshippers, lots of males ones.......very pleasant viewing even if I say so myself!

Apart from that it was chilling in the hammocks, playing cards with a few others or just sitting around chatting. Another good place to meet some really cool people. Again a top spot and somewhere to go to just chill out and recharge the batteries and of course to admire the scenery (ahem)!