Waitomo Caves

This last weekend I took a bus out to visit the Waitomo Caves. Even before I came to New Zealand I had heard that this was a must see spot in the Waikato region. Since it was only an hour bus ride from Hamilton, I decided to take the trip.

The cave complex at Waitomo is extensive and includes both dry and wet caverns. However, the reason they really became famous was their population of glow worms. I learned while I was at the caves that the glow worms are actually a variety of maggot. They live on the ceilings of the caves and emit a dull bluish-green bio-luminescence that is said to be spectacular. I have to admit I thought it was quite beautiful myself.

I decided to take a tour with the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company. They specialize in adventure tours through the caves, but there are other companies you can go through if you're interested in a more mild approach. We started by getting all dressed up in skin tight wet suits, boots, helmets and harnesses. 

Then we took about a 10 minute drive up the road from the tour station and parked at the side of the road. From there it was a short hike until we reached the starting point of our trip. There we had a quick lesson on how to use the abseiling equipment we would need to make the 35 m drop down into the caves.

It was a tight squeeze through the entrance, but as you dropped down further into the caves it expanded out into a beautiful, cool, damp cave.

Here I will mention to you that the BWRC does not allow you to take cameras on your trip because of the danger of things getting dropped and damaging people or the delicate cave system. So all the pictures I have from inside the caverns are from the company themselves.

After everyone was inside we walked a short distance down the passageway before reaching a ledge looking over a dark abyss. Our tour guides then strapped us onto a long rope and asked up to turn out all of our head lamps. This was when I realized that I was going to be taking a zip-line through the caverns in the pitch black! Once I was strapped in and ready I pushed myself off and went flying through the dark caves. I looked up and saw hundreds of glow worm lights twinkling all around me. The ride came to a stop far before I wanted it to!

The next leg of our journey would take us into the black waters of the underground river that runs through the caves. We each got our own inner tube and had to jump off a rock ledge into the water below. It was freezing cold and I was very glad I had that wet suit! We let the current take us down the river until we reached a spot where we hoped out and climbed up a short way to visit a cavern filled with beautiful mineral formations.

We soon left the tubes and went on down the rest of the river on foot. It wasn't too shallow most of the way, although I did take a couple of dips into some unexpected holes! As we went along our guides told us some more about the glow worms. I learned that when they hatch and attach themselves to the ceiling, they let down a bunch of sticky strings that hang down and catch insects as they go by. I got to check out a couple up close and I have to say they were definitely a bit strange looking!

Shortly after our guides also pointed out a strange object in the water that we all stopped to look at.

After a few incorrect guesses they told us that scientists had been down to the caves to test it and it turned out to be a whale bone that had been stuck there for thousands of years and slowly uncovered by erosion.

Shortly after we came to a deeper section of the river where we had to swim for about 100 meters before coming to a ledge where we could exit and continue along a dry section of the cavern. We got a chance to see another large mineral deposit cavern.

Here we were given some delicious hot orange juice and chocolate to rejuvenate us before we continued on. I was very grateful to get warmed up after that cold river! To get to the section of the cave where we would be able to get out we needed to make our way through a muddy bypass. It was small enough that we had to make our way on our hands and knees. We all got quite filthy by the end!

That was OK though because in order to get out of the caves we had to climb up through two small waterfall which got us all clean and completely soaked once again!

As we climbed back out into the sun I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that it was over. It had been such a fun and exciting trip and I wish that I could have spent a few more hours inside! We spent 3 hours inside the caves and barely saw a small portion of it. If I ever come back to New Zealand this is one experience I would be willing to do all over again!

Frankton School Swimming

One thing that I've found fascinating while working in New Zealand has been the fact that in primary school (or elementary as we'd call it in the States) swimming lessons are compulsory. It makes sense with New Zealand being a country surrounded by water, but it has been an adjustment for me as a teacher. I've had very little experience teaching any type of PE and no experience with teaching swimming. Yet, as a student teacher at Frankton School my responsibilities included teaching swimming lessons. 

While the first couple of lessons were somewhat rocky, I actually grew to really enjoy teaching swimming. It was very different from everything else we did during the day and it added a bit of fun and excitement to the day. Plus the kids genuinely loved it!

Along with lessons came the annual Frankton Swimming Sports competition. Once a year, students from Frankton take a trip to the nearby intermediate school to borrow their much larger and deeper pool. Here students who are proficient at swimming are able to try their hand at competing in races. There are also fun and silly races for those students who are not so good at swimming.

We had about 5 of our students who competed in the championship races which included freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and a medley race. Three of them made it to the final races where one of our students managed to get 2nd place overall in the breaststroke. 

It was a really fun day, and allowed me to see an event that I wouldn't ever have seen in the US elementary schools I usually work at in landlocked Utah. The opportunity I've had to try my hand at teaching swimming has been one I will never forget.

Rotorua, New Zealand - Day 2

We spent the evening in Rotorua at Rock Solid Backpackers. I found this hostel on Hostelworld.com which has always been a very reliable source. They had a 98% rating at the time I looked them up and it cost us about NZ$19 each to stay in a 4-bed female dorm room. I have to say I was really impressed by their accommodations. 

 To start with their customer service was excellent. We were greeted right away upon entering and were quickly set up with everything we needed. They had a ton of information on things to do in the city and their receptionists were very well acquainted with what was good to do and how to get around.

I also felt very secure in their facility. They had a lounge area that was open to anyone with a pool table, TV, free movies, a book exchange and couches to hang around on. However, to get up to where the living areas were you had to open one door with a code then a second door with a key and then finally your bedroom door with a second key. In addition, they had strict policies that only paying guests were allowed anywhere up in the living area. Honestly, I've been fine in hostels with far less security, so I was confident that my stuff was safe at Rock Solid.

We woke up bright and early the next morning to continue our adventures in Rotorua. For our second day we decided to do some nature and culture touring. In the morning we went out for an adventure with the Rotorua Canopy Tours company, and in the afternoon we spent a few hours exploring the Whakarewarewa Maori village.

     

Rotorua Canopy Tour

      

      Sunday morning we were picked up outside our hostel by the large white Rotorua Canopy Tours van. As I stepped inside to find a seat I was greeted by our tour host for the day and 4 other guests that would be coming along with us.

      

      The van took us to the RCT main building where we met another 4 guests to make a total of 10 people in our touring group. What were we signing up for you may ask? Well maybe this picture will give you a clue...

     

       If you didn't guess from the picture, Rotorua Canopy Tours is a company that takes groups of people out for a zip lining tour through the treetops in the nearby Dansey Road Scenic Reserve. It is one of the last remaining untouched forests left in New Zealand and RTC has been raising money through their canopy tours to aid in their conservation efforts.

We started the tour by getting set up in our harnesses and helmets and then hopping in the van for the 20 minutes ride to the reserve. As soon as I stepped out the van and turned towards the forest, I was greeted by a huge thick wall of green.

 A small path snaked away from the road into the dense foliage. The air was thick with the musty smell of forest and plant life. As we walked along the path, we were surrounding by huge thick trees rising into the sky and creating a dense canopy above while ferns and palms filled the gaps at the forest floor. Our tour guides informed us that this was one of the only forests on NZ with untouched trees. Most other forests had been cut down long ago and replanted later. Some of the trees we walked by were hundreds of years old.

Surprisingly, the forest was actually pretty quiet. As I later learned, before people started arriving on New Zealand it was an island almost entirely composed of birds and reptiles; there were no native land mammals. Therefore, many of the native New Zealand birds had not evolved the usual defenses against those types of creature. In fact a large percentage of their natural birds were flightless and lived in burrows in the ground. When people started coming over however, they brought many land mammals with them such as rats and possums. These animals quickly decimated the native bird population and caused many species to go extinct. The Dansey Reserve is one of the few places where they are attempting to revitalize that population, but there are still shockingly few birds given how big the reserve is, so the normal forest noises you might expect to hear are often absent.

Soon we reached the first platform on our journey. There they gave us a rundown of the safety procedures. There were ten platforms total throughout the tour with 7 zip lines and 2 bridges to cross.

 One of the tour guides was always in front of the group to help each person onto the platforms and one was at the back of the group to hook you on to the line and make sure everyone got across.

It was a beautiful and exciting journey through the tree tops. The harness hooked you to the rollers on the group using two thick ropes. Other than those points of contact you were free to swing your arms and legs freely as you flew through the canopy.

   

The highest platform was about 70 feet off the ground and the longest zip line was 220 meters.

The whole tour took about 3 hours. It was extraordinarily beautiful and very exciting. I was able to get some really gorgeous photos and even got to see a couple New Zealand Silver Ferns which stand as the national symbol. 

I would recommend a trip with Rotorua Canopy tours to anyone who loves to mix in a little adventure with some nature sightseeing. The tour was fun and informative and we got to meet a lot of really cool and interesting people.

Nothing like swinging through the treetops to bring a bunch of strangers together!

      

Whakarewarewa

After being driven back to our hostel we had a quick stop for lunch at The Brew café and bar (where I had a delicious BLT and chips) before catching the #2 bus out to our next stop for the day. Getting off the bus we had to walk about two blocks before arriving outside the gates of the Whakarewarewa Maori village.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but as you cross the first bridge into the village you will quickly notice that it is very different than the usual tourist stop. A group gathers at the edge of the bridge with a tour guide to take you around the village. You don’t have to go with the tour, but I would recommend it as it is the only way to really understand the history and importance of the area.

       

Crossing the bridge you can instantly see that you are standing on top of an active geothermal area. Large steam clouds rise from hot bubbling pools just on the village’s edge.

Old worn houses are perched just feet from the hot pool which are fenced off for safety.

The tour guide took us through the different hot pool and explained their history with the village. Whakarewarewa calls itself a living Maori village. As the tour guide explains all of the people in the village actually live there and use the natural resources, and many of them work during the day in normal jobs and careers in Rotorua. Every house in the village is owned by a family who can trace their lineage back to the original tribe.

Perhaps one of the neatest things to witness in the village is the fascinating blend of traditional and modern. The villagers love to continue to use the natural resources of the geothermal area they sit stop. The tour guide showed us how they use wooden boxes over hot steam vents to cook their meat...

and can boil various vegetable in the hot pools.

I even got to try some of the delicious corn they boiled in the hot pools right before my eyes.

In addition they will siphon off water from the pools into large concrete holes that they use for bathing. The minerals in the water are supposed to be very good for the skin and health and the villagers use the natural baths often and regularly.

Very few people need to pay for heating or appliances because they have the natural heat from the Earth for free.

Yet, the villagers still work normal jobs, drive cars, watch TV and do other modern everyday things. I love and recognize the beauty in how they've chosen to live their lives. They keep their heritage, speak the Maori language and use the resources at their fingertips, but still take advantage of the conveniences of the normal world. I think it is inspiring to see people who recognize that being modern doesn't mean you have to give up the uses of the world around you.

After the tour, we continued to explore different parts of the village. Everywhere we had the chance to see the signs of the slow moving Earth beneath us.

A bubbling hot mud pool that we found just to the side of one of the houses.

It may not look it, but the water in this lake is actually boiling hot!

The brief eruption of a geyser just off of the Whakarewarewa village borders.

 As we left the village it was time to head back to where our bus would pick us up to go home. It was a short but exciting weekend. It provided me with a much needed break from my studies and while I wish I could have had more time there, I appreciate the things I did get to see and experience. I hope that if you ever come to New Zealand you’ll take the opportunity to see the variety there is in Rotorua.

Rotorua, New Zealand - Day 1

This last weekend I took a trip with another student teacher, Camylle, to Rotorua, New Zealand. It is a city just a little south from Hamilton that is built on top of a large geothermal area. It isn't a very small city, but it kind of had that vibe to me. Most of the buildings were only one story high and were full of shops and restaurants. 

There is also a local art club called RAVE which hosts art events in Rotorua and as you are walking around you can find many examples of art pieces that have been created by them. I was very intrigued by the interesting details and shapes, and you can definitely feel the Maori influence in many of the pieces.

As you walk around the main section of Rotorua there is definitely the feel of a place that makes most of its money from visitors, but if you venture towards the outer parts you can find some very interesting features. Looking around there are signs everywhere of the geothermal activity bubbling just below the surface of the city. Journeying past one of the various parks in the area you might see steam rising from one of the countless fenced off hot springs and mud pools. As the air changes directions, you'll occasionally would catch a whiff of the potent sulfur smell steaming out of hot vents. 

Rotorua has many activities available for people of all types. Since I’m a little more adventurous and I like culture and nature, those drove my choices for what to do while I was there. We had a limited time and Rotorua has so much to offer so I couldn't have even scratched the surface of possibilities, but I will share with you the four activities we did do.

 1) OGO Rotorua

For those of you who have never seen one this is an OGO ball:

Essentially it is a large ball with an outer plastic layer, a layer of air, and then an inner plastic layer. The idea is to crawl (or jump) into the ball and then get pushed down a hill!

It’s quite a fun activity and it turns out the inventor of the ball is from right here in Rotorua. There is another place  Rotorua, ZORB, that offers the same activity, but they came after the OGO people. You may have also seen these in other countries since it has become quite a popular activity since its invention.

This was our first activity in Rotorua and we headed out for it immediately after getting our stuff settled into our hostel. It was a quick ride on the #1 bus from the local bus depot which drops you off right at the front gate. As you approach along the path you can see people rolling down the various tracks in their own little plastic balls.

You have a few options to choose from. There is a straight track you can ride, or the Sidewinder track. You can be a single rider, or you can have two people. You can ride with a harness or free flying. Also, you can choose whether or not to have them fill the ball partially with water or not. Camylle and I decided to do individual rides with water inside and we picked the package that allows you to take one ride down each of the two types of track.

We chose to first ride down the straight track which was much faster, but which, of course, meant it ended quicker. When you go with a friend you have the option of racing them down the hill. However, it honestly becomes into more of an uncontrolled tumble since it turns out it is actually very difficult to stand up and control a large plastic ball falling down a hill that has been made slippery with water

The second track we did was the Sidewinder track which is filled with switchbacks and hills. We ended up having to wait about 15 minutes in between rides though because they have a strict wind speed limit. If they have a gust over the limit then you have to wait until they can confirm that the high winds won’t continue. (Wouldn't want to get blown away from the track in a large uncontrollable ball that is shut from the outside would you??) However, the facilities include a nice warm hot tub to stay warm in while you wait.

The Sidewinder track is definitely a different experience. You are not going as fast, but you end up tumbling around a lot more! I found it hard to figure out which way was forward as the direction I was travelling was constantly changing. However, it was a lot easier to stay standing up and I was able to push the ball around a bit more (although that’s still not saying much!)

Overall, it was a really fun activity and a wonderful way to cool off from the hot summer sun. I would recommend a visit to OGO if you are ever in Rotorua and are brave enough to see what a hamster really feels like inside those little plastic balls…

2)  The Polynesian Spa

After a stressful week at school, Camylle and I decided that for our second activity in Rotorua we would take advantage of the fact that we were in a geothermal area and visit one of the several hot spring spas in the area.

The Polynesian Spa is definitely one of those built up touristy places, but regardless the water is natural, warm, and relaxing. They have several different areas at the spa that you can choose to enter. They have their Lake Spa which features more natural surroundings, a great view of the nearby lake, and 5 pools of varying temperatures. You can alternatively pay for one of their private spas. It is cheaper of you’re just looking at dollars, but there is a time limit and the spas are less natural feeling. There is also the option of entering their Adults Only pool where clothing is optional.

We opted for the Lake Spa. We didn't want a time limit and we wanted the more natural surroundings. You could tell the pools were still man-made and the temperatures were highly regulated, but the company did a very good job of surrounding the pools with lots of natural plants and rocks to make it feel more natural. Plus the view of the lake really was quite good.

We spent our time there going through the different pools. The coolest one was 35 C and the hottest was 40 C. I found that my favorite one was the second to hottest pool. While they were a lot of people there, it still didn't seem too crowded. The pools were a decent size and oddly shaped so there were generally little niches you could go to for more privacy.

It was a very nice experience and offered a great way to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle. We even got the chance to see a rainbow form over the lake.

I would recommend a visit to anyone who enjoys soaking in hot water and doesn't mind that it has been piped into fake pools. If you are looking for a more natural experience, there are hot springs you can drive and/or hike to out in the nearby area for those who have the inclination, transportation, and time to get there.

New Zealand Flowers

One thing that has really stood out to me since I arrived in New Zealand is how beautiful and green it is! Now I know that there are probably greener places on Earth, but compared to the desert I hail from in Utah, New Zealand is a few steps up! 

That being said I have taken it upon myself to wander around my yard and neighborhood to take pictures of as many different plants and flowers as I could. I attempted to find out the names of each of them, but Google was being slow! :P However, I am going to continue to try and figure out their names and I will update this page whenever I do, or if any of you out there know what they're called be sure to tell me!

ENJOY!

Omaio (above)

Bottlebrush (above)

Limes!!