Bed for One

Not all who wander want to be found 🍂

Black Water Rafting! (Waitomo) 🇳🇿

February 22, 2016

22 October 2015, Thursday

XM drove at least 2 hours from Auckland to Taupo and we reached around 12++pm to make our 12.45pm time slot.

Did a prior phone reservation and booked the Black Labyrinth + Waitomo Glowworm Caves for NZ$159.50/ person. Found the price to be pretty steep, but definitely absolutely worth every penny.

Psyched for a new exciting adventure!

Black Labyrinth

THE ORIGINAL CLASSIC ADVENTURES

This is the original Waitomo subterranean adventure that will have you climbing, black water tubing, leaping, through Ruakuri Cave.

Over three hours you’ll take leaps of faith over cascading waterfalls and float serenely down an underground river as you enjoy the glow worm show on the vaulted limestone galleries up above.

Your journey concludes when you emerge into the sunlight of the Waitomo forest.

(Source: http://www.waitomo.com/black-water-rafting/Pages/black-labyrinth.aspx)

Black dumplings; decked out in the gear – wetsuits + booties.

Group shot before being shuttled off to the caves. We had to pay NZ$30 for the official photos – sadly no photography allowed – so we purchased them for memories’ sake.

Butting around a li’l before we get down to some seriously fun business.

Human cater… just kidding.

We were taught how to properly enter the water – stick your butt into the tube, and jump down butt-first!

Walking a li’l before we hit the caves.

& we’re in! The water was actually pretty cold. Glad we were bundled up in our wetsuits.

Leap #1 – our first go at advancing into the water. A li’l scary at first, having to jump into the unknown. But all’s good!

Throughout the whole time, we were either waddling through the water or tubing along parts that were less shallow. There were also times where we’d tube in silence and appreciate the glowworms hanging on the top of the caves. Mother Nature is simply magnificent!

Abandoning the tube for a short while just to squeeze into a crevice.

Why is it called black water rafting? I heard cause daytime rafting’s called ‘white’, so if you’re rafting in the dark… it’s called ‘black water rafting’. Crossing black water rafting off my adventure list!

Like a graduation photo – sadly marking the end of the Black Labyrinth adventure.

We were brought back to the base where we washed up and they had a sweet small spread of bagels + warm tomato soup for us to fuel up. Such a great perk-me-up after the three hours!

Just to note, the whole journey was three hours including the traveling + walking time. You don’t really spend a good three hours in the water. Or maybe you do, I dno. Time really flies when you’re having too much of a good time!

Cause we bought the combo, we drove on down to Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

We’re here!

The entrance to the caves.

Once again, no photos allowed. ):

We were brought down to appreciate and admire the limestone formations in the cave before proceeding for a boat ride under thousands of magical glowworms!

We rode in complete silence, listening to the occasional drops of water from the top of the caves.

The view was magical indeed! (Photo source: http://www.waitomo.com/Waitomo-Glowworm-Caves/Pages/default.aspx)

Trying to sneak photos of the tour.

The drop-off aka end.

Farewell, Waitomo! You’ve been the perfect tourist spot. (Photo: XM)

XM drove another 2++hours to get to Taupo where we booked our next Airbnb stay. We had to rush to a lot of places cause we didn’t have the luxury of time!

Next up in Taupo:

Till then!