After a quick breakfast and a trip to the post office we were more than glad to leave Rotorua behind us as the constant stink of the rotten egg smell was starting to get to us, we really couldn't understand how people could live here smelling that all the time. 
 
It was about a 2 hour drive through the windy country roads to get to Waitomo . We had a tour booked called the Black Abyss with the Black Water Rafting Company as this had been recommended by other people. When we first talked about it, I had been very keen and almost the driving force behind booking it, however, when we actually arrived at the head office, the nerves really started to hit for me and Catriona and it no longer seemed like such a good idea!
 
After signing the disclaimers, we met our guides, Koren & Pip, and got suited up into all our wet suits and boots giving us an idea of how cold it was probably going to be. We posed for a few pictures with some silly props they had and then we set off for the caves. The thing we were most worried about was the 110ft abseil down into the cave. Our guides were lovely and so relaxing as they assured us we wouldn't fall to our deaths, we had a quick practice down a hill so we could all see how easy it was to control our abseil and how easy it was to brake so you didn't shoot down at great speed. Even though this was very reassuring, we still let an American couple go first and then the boys either side of us girls with Matt going first, then me, followed by Catriona and then Cathal, with the final member of our group, a German lad, going last . It was a nervous moment for all of us as you had to hang off the edge of the platform over a bottomless black hole. It was pretty scary as the cave is like a sand timer where it starts wide, has a very narrow bottle neck which the boys really had to squeeze through then it opens up into a huge cave. You can't see any of this though as it's pitch black and all you have is a little head torch. I was ridiculously nervous stood at the top and I think if someone had given me the option to back out and go wait in the car, I quite possibly would have! Koren was fantastic though and did an excellent job of calming me down and reassuring me, telling me all about the different types of people he has taken down this caves, including a blind lady and a quadriplegic man, so this gave me more confidence as I knew I was in safe hands! Once I was hanging over the edge there was no looking back but you really have no idea how high you are as you come through the cave entrance or how far you are from the bottom, I could just hear Matt and Pip talking at the bottom while they were waiting for me . Although I was extremely nervous when I had to start the descent, I was so pleased with myself once I reached the bottom and was actually quite disappointed that was the abseil part over!
 
Once everyone was down, we all sat and had a group chat getting to know everyone in the group whilst Koren went off ahead to set up our next task. After a short climb down into a rocky tunnel we got to see our first stalactites and stalagmites along with some glow worms. As we came to the end of the tunnel we discovered we actually had to zip line down into the next cave but in complete darkness. Eeek! Just as our nerves had settled they were back racing again. This actually proved to be quite fun but the build up was the most worrying bit as you had to shuffle to the edge of the rocks, get clipped onto the zip line and brace yourself to suddenly jump off a perfectly good rock into a black hole without knowing how long or steep it was. As you zip down you get to see lots of glow worms on the walls and the ceiling of the cave and you do pick up a fair bit bit of speed but you're totally unaware of how much until you crash into the end of the line and start bouncing around as you come to a sharp stop! Again, I absolutely loved the adrenalin rush and was disappointed another exciting part of the trip was over!
 
We were then in for treats which quickly turned to shocks as we sat down to have flap jacks and hot chocolate but then realised we were about to have to jump off the ledge we were sat on into the water which was anything from 10 to 15 feet below us . This was an awful thought and actually more worrying than anything yet because it was at quite a good height and the water was going to be icy cold. Also, there were no safety harnesses or rigging involved, it was just us jumping and hoping to land correctly! We were all given a rubber ring and we took turns going down a few steps to the jumping platform. It was hard to judge how high the jump was until the American guy went first and made a huge splash as he landed and completely got soaked in freezing cold water. You had to jump off with your rubber ring held against your bottom so when you jump you lean back and land sat in the ring. This made it more worrying than just jumping in especially as when you land, the force of the ring hitting the water causes water to come up way over your head and drench you. It was a very worrying moment for all of us as we stood waiting to leap off. The shock of the cold water soon wore off though as we all floated further into the cave with all the underground streams. 
 
We spent a while tubing and doing silly dancing to keep us all warm: as the water was so cold it was important to keep our core temperature up, it was very funny! Once we'd had a lesson on the glow worms and headed back to where we had jumped in, we continued further down the stream that way . We then got rid of the tubes and waded down the stream in water that varied from shin deep to neck deep! There were areas they called it drunk walking as it was very rocky underneath the water, you just couldn't see how rocky so you all stumbled all over the place as though you'd had a bit too much to drink!
 
After sliding down a slide and some more drunken walking we had to crawl through a narrow tunnel with water flowing through it. This was more of a problem for the boys as they were much bigger than us so they had less room to crawl through but we all made it through fine. We then made our way towards the waterfalls to start the task of getting out of here. We were quite surprised as Koren flicked his finger in a pool of water and a little eel appeared slowly creeping up on his finger. It was only about 18 inches long but they said there are some big ones about in the caves as they've seen up to 8ft long ones and 1 even attacked a sheep that had fallen in the water by biting its face. They say they live for hundreds of years so some of them are actually older than how long the tours have been going . It turned out we had to walk through the pool that the eel was in so this made me a little worried, but luckily no one got their face bitten!
 
To get out of the cave we had to climb up 3 waterfalls each getting slightly higher and with faster flowing water each time. The first was more of just a big step up but it was still a little climb. The 2nd involved us crawling through a tunnel and waiting under the pouring water as each of us took turns in climbing up. Of course our feet had been numb for quite a long time so suddenly climbing up a freezing cold waterfall wasn't exactly ideal. Pip stood at the bottom showing us the safest places to put our feet as it was very slippy and the the force of the water was quite hard. It was very exciting though, once up we had to make our way through a very low and narrow tunnel to the next. The water was pouring so hard down this one it was quite crazy that we were going to climb up it. But just the same as before, Pip showed us the safest places for our feet whilst Koren got a nice snap of us coming up . It was quite hard work climbing against the force of so much water, Matt had to do it twice though as he got up so quick Koren wasn't ready to get his picture so he had to go back down a bit and come up again. 
 
As we all gathered at the top of the 3rd waterfall, Koren told us that we were actually now outside and no longer in the cave! We had been in the cave so long it was now pitch black and we were stood in a freezing cold river, it was very hard to tell the difference but once he had said that it was obvious as we could see the stars and the trees around the edge of the river bank. 
We had made it out after all that worrying, we all got congratulated for doing so well and we headed back to the bus to get back to the main office to warm up. I've never ever known my feet and hands to be so cold before, it was quite awful but the cold water had all been part of it so it wouldn't have been the same if it was lovely warm water. We quickly got our wetsuits off and showered then were treated with bagels and soup. We were all so pleased we'd chosen to do this, especially me and Catriona as we'd been so brave after being really worried about doing it at the start . It really felt like a big achievement for us. 
 
Unfortunately after such a fun couple of days we now had the worst bit, saying our goodbyes to Cathal and Catriona. We had only known them for 3 weeks but, as some of the first people we made friends with on the Stray bus, it felt like so much longer. We had such brilliant time being with them throughout our New Zealand trip, even if they were a bad influence and got us drinking most of the time! Although we were heading off to Hawaii they were hanging around New Zealand for a few more days visiting friends before they then head off to Cambodia. This is definitely not goodbye for long though as we've always wanted to go to Ireland so now we've got the perfect reason to!
After our sad farewells, we then had a 2 and a half hour drive back to Auckland airport. We booked a hotel right by it to give us more time in the morning but we were much later setting off than expected so it was going be a much later night than we'd hoped for. The car heaters were on full to warm us right up and it's surprising how tired we both now felt from being so cold all afternoon and all the excitement . We couldn't get to our hotel quick enough. 
 
I must have been so nervous about the caving trip that I didn't really pay much attention to what accommodation I was booking and when we arrived we discovered I'd booked us into a motel complete with separate double bedroom, ensuite bathroom, kitchenette, lounge and diner! It was huge!!! Unfortunately, with arriving so late and having to leave so early in the morning, we didn't really get to appreciate our 'apartment' but at least we had plenty of room to spread everything out while we packed our bags!
 
We were both pretty quiet and a bit snappy that evening and it was because, after not really being bothered about coming to New Zealand, we were both very sad to be leaving and saying goodbye to such a lovely group of new friends.