Waitomo, New Zealand (October 2013)

We were up and out early on Wednesday to start our road trip. The first thing you need for a successful road trip is coffee. There are roughly a million and a half coffee shops in Auckland itself, or at least it seemed that way. No complaints but we could not for the life of us figure out how to order a regular coffee at any of those places. Everyone is jumping off everything because they're hopped up on caffeine. Every coffee drink is espresso based and we tried ordering all of them... just want a simple cup of coffee!!! Nope, here's an excessive amount of caffeine, good luck!

So triple shot in hand, we take the bus to the rental car pick up. Right side of the car, left side of the street took a little time to adjust, especially the city driving, but once we were out on the "highway" (country road) we were smooth sailing. The countryside reminds me a lot of Ireland, rolling green hills, sheep and cows, lots of cows. It was amazing seeing these animals grazing on the hillsides, literally on the sides of these hills.

North Island New Zealand countryside

We hit a little rain, but nothing to stop us from arriving at Waitomo Caves just in time for our tubing adventure. We pulled into Juno Hall to see if they had any vacancy for the night. Luckily they were open and we were able to book two beds at this quaint farm hostel. I felt like I was at camp again! The lodge was heated by a wood-burning stove and lambs, cows, goats, pigs and deer were strolling the immediate area.

After we settled into our room, we walked over to the caves. Picture the Luray Caverns, but much smaller/tighter area 200 feet underground. That's Waitomo Caves. We put on wetsuits, grabbed a tube and joined our tour guide for a spectacular journey. We headed down into the earth through rushing water and over small waterfalls to float down the "lazy river." When our headlamps were turned off, the ceiling was filled with twinkling glow worms. Although I was extremely cold even with the wetsuit, I'm so glad we got to enjoy this experience. If you find yourself in Waitomo, please visit Black Water Rafting.

Post caving, we went into town for dinner. What we thought was a simple cafe, turned out to be Huhu. The food was delicious! We split lamb curry and mussels. It was a bit more expensive than we expected for dinner that night, but the food really was amazing and I would recommend it and eat there again in a heartbeat.

After dinner we turned in for the night. Caving will take it out of you!

Sunrise... my favorite