We woke up to our alarm sound at 9:15am and it took us a while to get up and get ready. Andrew returned from the shower block at 10am which meant that I had around fifteen minutes to get a shower myself, as well as to make and eat breakfast. Andrew decided to use the microwave to save time but the porridge didn't seem to want to cook. It was because Andrew had attempted to cook two bowls at once, so we ended up cooking one bowl and sharing it whilst throwing the other one away as we completely ran out of time. We quickly jumped in to the campervan and began driving to 'Waitomo Caves'. We found the Black Water Rafting Co. and paid for our Black Abyss tour. It was quite a miserable day so we were glad we were spending it underground. We waited on the deck outside for our tour instructors who turned up and introduced themselves before we were shown the equipment we would be using during the tour. We had to collect a pair of booties, a brown fleece top, a wet-suit and a jacket. There was only one other girl on the trip so we went to the changing room to put our bikini on underneath our wet-suit. The booties were wet and freezing cold so I ran them under the hot tap to warm them up before putting them on my feet, but they turned out to be too big. I had to wear cold and wet booties whilst I found a white pair of boots that fit. We were then fitted in to a harness and given a red hard hat. I was also given a balaclava to wear to keep my hair under control along with the other girl, as well Andrew as his hair was regarded as too long! We were all ready to go caving so we posed for a photograph before we piled into a van to transport us to the cave site. 
 
Our first task was to watch and learn how to abseil as there were ropes set up on a slight hill which allowed us to practice. Our instructor was pretty funny and he pointed out the fact that walking backwards was not the same as abseiling! There were two French men and an Australian couple on our trip so we had a race to represent our country. Andrew and I both came last and so lost as is usually the case with England anyway. It was then time to descend into the Black Abyss! The Australian girl volunteered to go first so Andrew and I attached ourselves to the railing to peep down into the black hole. It looked narrower than I expected and I started to feel a little anxious about the abseil. Andrew went third and took it really slowly so I was all ready to go as I looked down and watched him descend. The instructor told me to put my feet underneath the platform but I couldn't find the ledge. It turned out that there wasn't one and I just had to hang in the air! As I descended I became more and more scared as it was quite a tight gap and I didn't quite manage a smooth abseil. I eventually reached the bottom safely and the instructor then asked me to tell him one interesting thing about myself. I hated being put on the spot so he had to help me out. Once everyone had completed the abseil we posed for a photograph on the cave floor before being given a little history about the cave. As I was a 'Science Teacher' each question was posed at me and I just about managed to pull off the fact that I knew the rock was sedimentary limestone. Andrew got the extra point since he was able to explain the formation of limestone rock. We then began walking through the cave and made a quick stop to observe the stalagmites and stalactites that had been formed over thousands of years as they only grew one cubic centimetre in a year. It became clear that one of the French men couldn't understand English very well as he touched a stalagmite much to the annoyance of the instructor who had informed us not to touch anything as the oil on our skin destroys the formations in the cave. We reached a narrow ledge where we were asked to switch off our headlamps so it was pitch black. As I was at the front the instructor fixed me up to a safety harness and then told me to hang freely over the ledge in front of me. I had absolutely no idea what was happening but I was soon flying through the air on a zip line and when I looked up the cave ceiling was covered in glowworms. I came to an abrupt halt which was when the other instructor scared me as he was hiding on a ledge in the dark. I sat waiting for everyone else to fly down the zip line and we were then asked to sit with our feet hanging over the edge of another ledge. I couldn't work out what had happened fast enough but I heard a splash and then I heard one of the instructors start shouting. It turned out that one of the French men had jumped off the ledge into the freezing cold water! The instructor wasn't happy for obvious reasons as the water may not have been deep enough and he could have seriously hurt himself as it was only a narrow gap. The rest of the group didn't dare move even though we were given the same instruction to sit with our feet hanging over the edge. In the end the instructor demonstrated what he wanted us to do before we all quickly copied and we were sat in a row with our feet dangling over the edge! The French guy then had to sit freezing to death whilst we all had a nice cup of hot chocolate and a flapjack biscuit! 
 
It was then time to enter the baltic water below which made me feel rather uncomfortable as I knew it was going to hurt! We were all given an inflatable rubber tube and we then lined up on a platform. I hesitated somewhat before jumping and for good reason as the temperature of the water literally took my breath away! I managed to paddle over to Andrew who was holding on to a rope affixed to the cave wall. The poor Australian girl fell out of her tube when she jumped so she was totally immersed in the water. It was unbelievably cold so we got moving through the cave holding on to the rope. We stopped to hear a 'Glowworm Fairy Tale' and then the genuine story behind the glowing things attached to the cave ceiling. The so-called glowworms were in fact maggots and the stuff that glowed was actually maggot shit! We were all glad to know that we had paid good money to see maggot shit. We formed a chain before floating back through the cave where we began to hear the sound of gushing water. It was 'Team France' who gave us a sing-song as we floated in the form of the French National Anthem! It was quite random lying back in a floating tube in complete darkness gazing up at the twinkling "sky" whilst listening to a gruff version of the French National Anthem.  The tubing part of the tour was over so we now had to tackle walking through the water and uneven cave floor. We reached a point where the cave ceiling was so low that we had to walk on our hands and knees with our head on the side. It felt a little claustrophobic but it was luckily only for a short section through the cave. We then slid down a slide just to make us a little wetter and colder before we floated down another section of the cave on our back as the current was able to carry our weight. We all gathered on a ledge to drink a hot orange drink that was full of glucose and a piece of chocolate that we were asked to dip in to our drink so that it melted to allow our body to absorb the sugar faster. Our instructor took a couple of photographs of us before we set off walking once again through the cave. We could hear a waterfall in the distance and so we knew it wouldn't be too long before it was time to climb up the thing. I was a little apprehensive as the water was fast flowing and spurting in my eyes so that my contact lenses were itching to escape. Andrew went before me whilst I had to crouch in a tiny gap. It was then my turn and it took a bit of effort to stretch to put my feet on the spot where the instructor pointed but I made it to the top. I began climbing the second waterfall but my foot slipped as the water pressure was so high. It made me wobble a bit but the instructor just continued to point to where I should put my feet! We saw light at the end of the cave and began to climb out, but Andrew at the last minute managed to whack his shin off a hidden rock. We made it on to dry land feeling pretty tired after the waterfall climbing at the end.
 
We walked back to the van and we then drove back to get a steaming hot shower. I didn't want to get out but the thought of food was tempting. We could help ourself to a cup of hot soup and a bagel. The photographs taken on our trip were being shown on a TV screen and they looked pretty good so we decided to buy a copy. We said goodbye to the people that we had met and then began the journey north to Auckland. It got dark pretty quickly and we were both shattered so we couldn't wait to reach our destination. We made a quick stop at 'New World' supermarket to buy a birthday cake so that I could celebrate being a year older. We happened to miss the turn off on SH1 so it took a little map readjusting to find our way to Remuera, which was just outside of the city centre. We eventually found a campsite and they only had one site left for the night. However, the owner made us check it out first as somebody had previously said it was unsuitable to stay there for the night. We searched in the dark for the site but we couldn't quite work out the spot. Anyway, we agreed it would be fine for one night but it turned out to be a muddy piece of land. In addition, Andrew had to literally climb through an over-grown hedge to hook up to the power box. It was a bit of a struggle but we managed to collect everything we needed to cook and made our way to the kitchen area. It was a nice change to eat a piece of fish and we washed it down with a bottle of Jacobs Creek white wine. We sat in the TV room for a while whilst eating as there was no space around the dining table. We quickly washed up and then we returned to our campervan to cut the birthday cake. However, the electric heater didn't work so Andrew had to climb back through the hedge once again to reset the power box! We ate cake and then went to bed as we were so tired after a day of caving.