Geysers, Glowworms, And Good Times

It’s only been two days since my last update but it has been so action packed it feels like it has been longer!

I woke up on Thursday morning, grabbed some breakfast, and hopped on a bus to Te Puia, a tourist attraction in Rotorua full of geothermic awesomeness and rumoured home of two kiwi birds. I arrived just in time to join a tour that was just about to leave. Everyone else in the group was at least 60 years old making it clear that the geysers are not what bring the backpackers to town. There are two main geysers in the park and they erupt approximately 20 times a day and can reach heights of 30 feet. I was lucky enough to see the geysers erupt a few times but I never saw them reach those great heights. Next to the geysers was an area referred to as ‘hot seats’ there we rocks, carved into bench shapes, which were heated naturally from all the craziness happening under ground. I laid down flat on one of them for a few minutes and it was pretty therapeutic.

After checking out the geysers we made our way to the kiwi house. The website said that there were two kiwis on site but I quickly learned this was not true, there was only one, and I’m actually questioning his existence. My guide told us one of the birds had encountered guests who did not follow the rules (they either used a flashlight or camera with a flash startling the nocturnal creature), causing it to go into shock and dislocating both of her hips. She was taken away for surgery a month ago and has not yet returned but apparently they have been told she is doing well. I returned to the kiwi house later on because the one kiwi that was still living in the habitat was asleep in its burrow when my tour group went through and heard a different story from another guide. He told his group that they work closely with the ministry to ensure the well being of the birds and the female had been taken away for routine testing. I’m more inclined to believe the first story. But I also believe the bird is dead. I actually think both birds are dead, or at least no longer at the kiwi house in Te Puia. I returned to the kiwi house three times during my visit and the kiwi was sleeping in its burrow every time.  I know it is a nocturnal animal but the habitat was dark at the time and we were told they turn the lights on at night. The fact that both guides had different stories about the whereabouts of the second bird also left me feeling like something dodgy was going on. I did however get a picture of a stuffed kiwi.

My tour of Te Puia also included a tour of a miniature Maori village, the Maori story of creation, and a chance to check out their carving and weaving workshops. Once I had had enough culture I headed back to the hostel to relax before my bus ride to Auckland, which thankfully was much nicer than my journey from Wellington to Rotorua. 

I arrived in Auckland around 9:00pm, checked into my hostel, and headed out for dinner. While I was out and about My friend/boss David who I was meant to be meeting bright and early the following morning called and we decided it would probably be a good idea for me to stay at his place since we had such an early start in the morning so I raced back to the hostel and chucked everything I would need for the following day in a bag and headed back outside to meet him.

The following day David, his partner Jakob, and I woke up at ridiculous o’clock (around 6am) and started the long drive to Waitomo. It was a good thing I stayed at their place the night before because we didn’t make it out the door quite as early as planned and made it to Waitomo with seconds to spare even though we were travelling well over the speed limit most of the trip and there is now probably at least one speeding ticket in the mail. We ended up having to run to catch the 10am tour which was crucial for the rest of our day to go as planned.

The tour of the Glow Worm Caves was actually pretty disappointing. Our guide was stoned and provided very little information in a quiet monotone and was seriously lacking in the charisma department. The most entertaining part of the tour was probably the creepy weirdo who kept lurking behind the rest of the group in an attempt to get closer to me. Luckily we managed to shake him before the boat portion of the tour started because sitting next to him while we silently drifted through the pitch black cave does not sound like a good time.

From there the boys dropped me off down the road as we had booked different activities for the next portion of the day. I was going black-water rafting and they were going to tour another cave. This tour was about a million times better than the first one. I had two guides and they were both outgoing and full of information, which they delivered with humour. Without them I never would have known that once a male glowworm (actually a maggot not a worm) hatches into a fly its genitals account for approximately half of their body mass, and I feel like that information will be incredibly useful throughout the rest of my life.

Once our group was all geared up in our wetsuits, rubber boots, and helmets we loaded into the van and made our way to the caves. Before entering the caves we had to do a test jump to get us ready for the waterfall jumps we would need to do inside the caves. I was bullied into going first and was absolutely terrified since they implied that I would be jumping from a platform about 10 feet up when really I only needed to jump from about 2 feet above the water. I ended up with a mouthful of water but I didn’t die or break anything so I would class that as a win.

While we were inside the caves we did a combination of walking and floating. They had other tours available that included abseiling, zip-lines, and rock-climbing and if I ever make my way back there I think I will be trying one of the more difficult options. The hardest/scariest part of the whole thing was having to jump backwards off of two different waterfalls. I think the tallest one was about 5 feet tall but there was a rock at the bottom and you had to jump outwards to avoid it but since you couldn’t see anything the half-second you spend falling is pretty nerve racking because you don’t know if you’ve jumped far enough. The coolest part was probably when we formed ‘the human eel’ (we made a human chain) and floated through the caves staring up at the glowworms like they were stars in the sky.

After approximately 2 awesome hours underground we made our way back to back where I changed in to some dry clothes and scarfed down a couple of bagels while waiting for David and Jakob to come pick me up so we could head back to Auckland. The drive home was much less stressful than the drive there as we had time to play with before our dinner reservations.

Back in Auckland we met up with Michelle (my other boss) and her mum Jo and headed to Caluzzi’s for dinner and a show. The MC for the evening said they were the best drag cabaret in Auckland and while I have nothing to compare it to they put on an amazing show. We ate dinner while 4 men and drag served us, and made hilariously inappropriate comments keeping us laughing for hours. Once dinner was finished it was time for the real show to begin. I was dragged on stage by Ms. Ribena who told the crowd I was in New Zealand on a working holiday visa and then said if I am looking for work I could always be a stripper or a hooker. It was slightly embarrassing but I feel like it could have been much worse. After humiliating me and a couple of girls out for their bachelorette parties the other three “girls” took turns singing and dancing for us. The venue was quite intimate so some of the actually went out on to the street and performed while we watched through the windows. This was probably the most entertaining part as a lot of unsuspecting pedestrians ended up becoming part of the show and some of their reactions were pretty priceless.

After the show we headed home and called it a night. I fly to Fiji bright and early tomorrow morning (I cant believe today is my last day in New Zealand), so I’m just taking it easy today. I did some laundry this morning and plan to do very little for the rest of the day so it may be a day or two until I have anything worth writing about but hopefully I will have some tropical awesomeness to fill you in on soon.