November 20th - Day 12 - Kiwi's & Caves

We went to the Kiwi House which was a really good deal at just under $20 NZ.  A great experience but Shirley, you might not want to read the next few paragraphs!  Just cuz I love you!

We saw 2 Kiwi birds which was super cool because they are nocturnal.  The Kiwi bird is indigenous, endangered and flightless.  The Kiwi House created an opposite day/night scenario in an enclosed area just like they would be outside, allowing them to continue hunting for their own food at night (our day time) and sleeping during the day (our night time).  This way we were able to watch them dig with their long beaks and run around and play in the water.  We also saw many other birds but my favorite two are the Plover and the Tui.  The Tui bird makes some weird noises but he's really neat looking.  A little like a deep blue bluejay but with a white ruffle under it's neck.

And then there was Thor.  He was a cheeky little Plover who likes to squak at you and come up close, then if we tried to walk away he'd follow us.  We would bend down again and he'd just stand there squaking but in a different tune.  Seemed agressive but I think he was more social than anything else.  :)


We saw some pretty cool birds (giant pigeons, Kea, owls, parrots, heron...) as well as 3-4 foot long eels, tuataras,..the list goes on.  FYI - the eels were massive.  Their heads were about 8 inches wide. Such a good deal!  We spent about an hour and a half there and towards the exit you got to go through a giant Aviary and walked with some Tui's and these green parrot looking birds.
 

Alain met us for lunch at the Thirsty Weta (Weta is like a cricket), then off to Waitomo for our GlowWorm Caving adventure, the Black Abyss!

We told Alain about the Ostrich so he got out his go-pro for some footage and sure enough as we stopped on the side of the road again, the Ostrich quickly came over to see us.  This time there were donkeys tied up on the road side of the fence and once again, LOL  Ryan is completely freaked out as the donkey puts his head almost in Ryan's window.  Instead of just rolling up his window, Ryan is practically on Alain's lap trying to get away from the donkey!  LMAO!!!


So we've got the Ostrich, the donkeys and now the farm dog is running down the hill from the house and sneaks under the fence for some love!  We all pet him for a bit and then as we drive away, he chases the car for about 20 feet then stares at us longingly and eventually goes home. 

We get to The Legendary Black Water Rafting and they size us for our wetsuits, jackets and boots...which I was dreading but we all did just fine! :) I'm sure it's the best I've looked in the last few weeks!  ;)

Pip and Ben were are tour guides and they were both fantastic, funny sarcastic and supportive (i'll explain supportive later)

 We were given helmets with head lamps and a harness which we had to put on before getting into the van to be driven out to the cave.  They gave us an interactive demo on how to repel /abseil and then Alain went first down the Black Abyss.  It was pitch black, going down about 100 ft, I went next, then Ryan.  Everyone knows I'm afraid of heights so I just didn't look down or think about it and I was fine.  The rope was a bit difficult as it felt really heavy, but other than that, abseiling was fun and done!

At the bottom we have to wait for the rest of our group to come down which is only another 5 people.  4 Japanese students, 3 of which barely spoke english but Yoshi used to live in Toronto and was their translater; and also an Indian guy Adil (who couldn't swim).   While we were waiting we all turned our flashlights out and looked up... there they were.  Glowing directly above us! As Pip put it, "Glowing Maggot Shit"! Soooo Cool.

FYI - Glow worms are the larvae of a fungus gnat.

Anyway, it reminded me of when I was a kid and you thought it was so rad to put up those glow in the dark sticker stars on your ceiling and around your bedroom.

Everyone is down and while we're waiting for Ben to set something up for us.  Pip has us tell everyone our name, a famous person we'd like to have dinner with and who we'd like to see in concert...  She was stalling for what comes next.

So we are in the bottom of the cave now and Pip tells us to make sure our lamps are on.  We walk along these large rocks until we are single file on a metal platform where we need to hook our harnesses onto the rope.  Alain reaches the end first and she says "Wait."  she unhooks his harness from the rope and hooks him into a zipline!   She makes us shut all our lights off and lets him go.  It's pitch black, you have no idea where you're going and then we hear this big bang, like something hit hard.  She turns her light back on!  I'm next!  I'm a little freaked out but Pip our guides seems quite calm.  She unhooks my harness from the rope on the wall and hooks me into the zipline.  She tells me to slowly bend my knees and let my feet come off the ground, she then releases a few feet and she shuts her light off again.  Pitch black, I'm zipping through the air, no idea how far or where the eff I am and so I'm screaming..."weeeeeeeoooooohhh oooooh"... 

And Jolt!  I'm stopped mid air and hanging.... still dark!  Then I see a light and Ben is there to rescue me.  I have to do a slight pull up to get off the zip and I'm safe on the ground again but not before clutching onto Ben; Alain is waiting and laughing.

Ryan comes down next and this time I hear another really loud thud and bang.  Then I realize there are rubber tubes everywhere and to be funny Ben is slapping them to make it sound like something is wrong!  What a jerk...but it was really funny!

They had us all sitting down on a ledge and fed us hot chocolate and super dense granola.

After that, everyone picked a rubber tube.  (some were small and some were bigger but the bigger ones were better for the neck support) We then walked down to the water but we were about 6 feet up on a platform.  We got to jump off with the tube on our bums but I was terrified...I went last...it took me a minute but I sucked it up and jumped.  Sploosh!  Super fun!

We then all followed a rope along the wall in the water and shut our headlamps off.  Looking up it was a million stars...but they were glowworms... actually they were larvae.  lol...  Followed that along for a while, we then stopped and she told us the story of the glow worms while we stood on some rocks out of the cold water. Got back in our tubes and made a train by each person putting their feet under the arms of the tube in front of them.  We then ditched the tubes and were walking in the caves about waist deep for me, lower for the others as I was the only girl in our group.   We got more hot tang like drink and some dark chocolate - I think they were afraid of losing us to hypothermia, dehydration and starvation! Walked further through the cave until we got to a very small hole in the cave wall which we saw Pip squirm her way through.  

She said this is where we forgive your sins.  You climb through the hole, (a very tight squeeze), you say your sin, she splashes water in your face and all is right in the world again!  lol

Still walking through the cave water, we saw an eel, a 25 million year old whale fossil and  then we slid down a man made slide in the cave.  Fun!
AND THEN!!!!  We had to climb up a water fall - hardest thing I've ever done I'm sure. I was terrified.  I was second last to go with Ryan behind me. Still in the cave, they told us to stay to the side of the waterfall and they would motion us where to put our feet and hands for climbing.  Again, fraidy cat for heights, I struggled and said "I can't" a few times but Pip and Ben were awesome!  I'm so glad I did it, such a relief and I had a good case of the shakes after.  Ryan rocked it of course!  :)  Just when you think you're done, you're not...another smaller waterfall to climb but this was easier...not easy, just not as scary!  lol  And then we're out.  Daylight! 

There was a long trek back to the car in the heavy wet suits which felt like a lifetime after the 3.5 hours in the cave and I really had to pee! Once back, you get showered and they provide hot tomato soup and bagels!

Exhausted we head back to town for beer, a glass of wine and to split a burger!

What a great day!