Day 2

*Having had a day off from “fat camp,” we decided to take in the shores of Raglan with a brief jog. We then got organized and drove southwest along the coast to Manu bay to watch the morning surfers ride the waves. The scenery and sounds of the breaking waves were soothing – but we had to trek on. We decided to go with our guidebook and take the back roads between Raglan to Kawhia, 55 km of winding mostly gravel roads hugging the west coast. The book said it was “off the beaten path,” thankfully Jess kept us on the road and we got to experience some incredible twists and turns.

*Beyond Kawhia we drove on to Waitomo to explore the Raukuri Cave (aka glowworm cave). We had been encouraged by Dr. Amy to go cave tubing with the Black Water Rafting Co. and try the Black Labyrinth. Our adventure started by navigating our way into stylish wet suits, caving helmets, and spiffy white rubber boots (we have no pictures, for fear that the camera would get wet – but be assured that we were mighty sexy). We loaded up with our fellow cave-tubers into a large van that took us to the caving start point. When we unloaded, we were instructed to select a tube and then jump off a platform backwards into the water – our eyes widened. We survived the first challenge into the bitterly cold water, loaded back into the van, and made our way to “the entrance” of the cave. After squeezing into the large crack in the ground, we spent 10 minutes adjusting to the low light levels and getting to know each other (8 tubers and 2 guides). The following details are provided by Jess as Margaret’s glasses were foggy most of the way (but she did an excellent job navigating with fog, poor eyesight in darkness, and no peripheral vision!). The journey took us over 1.5k underground following a small creek through which we walked, stumbled, floated, jumped into, and swam. All this while trying to avoid the many stalactites and stalagmites protruding into our paths. The most difficult part was throwing ourselves off a 5-foot waterfall backwards in the dark to which Margaret had difficulty counting up for the jump as the guide was counting down. She proceeded to throw herself off crookedly and almost hit her head on the side of the cave. Good thing she couldn’t see how close she was! The caverns opened up as we traveled, and we could see the glowworms far above us with their shining green lights on the cave ceilings. Glowworms are actually the larvae of fungus gnats that dangle silk threads into the darkness in hopes of catching lost insects. An enzyme they produce as a waste product is actually what glows in the dark. But as our guides explained to us, “glowworm caves” were much more appealing to tourists than “maggot excrement caves.” On our return to The Black Café, we were provided with a HOT shower, warm tomato soup and a toasted bagel. The combination of the three took away the chill and we were warm again. When we went to start the car, we learned that to our surprise, we (Jess) left the lights on and ran the battery dead. Luckily one of the tour leaders Andy, came to our rescue with jumper cables –phew!

*We headed south to Taumarunui to spend to night at a super inexpensive Holiday Park; we had our own cabin, with a powerful heater. We ate interesting, but tasty meals at the Main Trunk Café, which was located in a remodeled/restored railway car. The café was filled with local families enjoying a Friday night dinner out; I think they could tell we weren’t local.