Caving with glow worms and a cross country adventure

Well hello there everyone

So if I pick up where Ms Magoo left off we were in Paihia in our little campervan called Rabbit. Turns out that although Sue and I are not to shabby with our camping our van was a little more ancient then we first thought. The first couple of night were spent without electricity, a serious lack of running water, and only a small duvet to cover us from the cold!

However we survived and made our way up to Cape Reinga which is the most northern part of New Zealand. You get to drive along 90 mile beach (which is where New Zealand's Maori name of 'Aotearoa' (The Land of the Long White Cloud) comes from as it is the first part of the land that they saw when they migrated across...fact!) and visit the lighthouse on the very tip for some spectatular views! Back in Paihia we took a boat ride out into the Bay of Islands which again are amazing. Even better was on this trip the organisers managed to find a pod of Dolphins and we got the boat right up close to them! We then took the boat through Cape Brett (loving the name) and back to Paihia where we continued our journey back through Auckland (where we changed vans to one a little more modern and with mod-cons like working electrics) and then onto Waitomo.

The next morning we got up and booked our caving tour to see glow worms, and weren't to be dissapointed. Due to it being the off season Sue and I were the only ones on the tour which meant we got to do more and go further. We started about 100 meters up and got as far down as 90 meters into the caves, seeing glow worms, cave crayfish (which are huge) and some fantastic cave formations. The tour also included 3 abseils and 2 rock climbs (the last one being a killer of a climb) so although the water was freezing we were kept warm.

Finally back into the world of daylight we once again boarded our van (now called 'Junior' in respect to our now retired 'Rabbit') and headed for Rotorua where we would find some crazy thermal pools and geysers. We went to the main place in Rotorua called Te Puia where we got to see some traditional Maori rituals, dances (including an upclose redition of the Haka) and housing. We also saw (and smelt) some of the most famous geysers in New Zealand. Out of Rotorua we went to another thermal park with some even better thermal pools (I think Sue has got some photos up of these) and a buried village where Mount Tarawera erupted some 120 years ago and killed off many local tribes and industries. Have to say the local people love their history and will spend so much time telling you all about it which is just fantastic.

Anyway, after all that we headed for Napier to see the 1930s architecture and get some fresh fish for dinner on my birthday. From there we drove through Taupo and stopped for a cuppa by the lake, and before setting off I spotted a sign saying last petrol station for 130km. I thought nothing of it until I looked at the dash and saw we had only 1/4 tank of petrol left! Several reassuring conversations back and forth and we were convinced we had enough to cover the distance...until the light came on and we'd only gone half way. A quick chat with the locals confirmed we were out of luck (that's not exactly how they put it shall we say!). However we persevered, free wheeling the car out of gear on all the down hills, gathering as much speed as we could to get up the other side before reluctantly putting it back into gear and hoping for the best! We got to Napier by the skin of our teeth and our van has now started to make some worrying noises!

And now I'll leave you to digest all that and hopefully be back soon for another thrilling installment

Hope all is well with you all.

Sharm