Days 13, 14 and 15- my first true adventure

So, these past 2 days have been my best here. This will be a long post, so I will spare you the pleasantries and jump right in.
My 13th day was a Friday. Now, seeing as I have no class on Friday, my friends and I decided to get out of town and see some of the surrounding region. Our destination: Tauranga. Please excuse my prior spellings of the town as Toronga, or other derivations- I had only heard the town name, not seen it, and as a result of accents I guessed as to the proper spelling. There were 5 of us that left friday morning: Myself, Kristen (American, Minnesota, my neighbor), Dylan (American, New York), Andrew (Western Canada), and Anna (NZ, Tauranga). Our drive was scenic to say the least- rolling grassy hills covered in cattle and pasture. We saw suprisingly few sheep. The drive requires about 45 minutes over rolling hills, then climbing a mild mountain called mount Mauganui (again, spelling uncertain). The weather was overcast on our way up, and due to something called the rain shadow effect (which should trap all the clouds on the side we were coming from), the other side, and thus Tauranga, should be clear. We were, in fact, dead wrong. After a very cool drive to the top of the mountain, we were hit with a deluge which persisted the entire day. On our way into town, we stopped at Anna's house so she could see her family. Only her father was home- this home is about lower-middle size for a normal American suburban home- one level, with I think 2-3bedrooms and 1 bath, with a new one constructed. Anna's father was very hospitable, and told us all about NZ and the housing. Apparently, many more families want more rooms in their homes, and are expanding. After the house (and seeing the pet chicken that traverses the property) we drove behind the property, past avacado orchards, to a lookout on a cliff. As soon as we got there, though, the car got stuck in mud. We proceeded to get out and push, which worked just fine- in the pouring rain. After this, we drove into town, and went to a park. The park was full of puddles, which we proceeded to gleefully jump in. We had brought bathing suits ("togs" in NZ) with us, as we were going to go to the beach. After a while, though, our clothes were so soaked that we decided not to change. After the park we went to a local place for some fish and chips- it was the best fish and chips I ever had, and the cheapest (3.50$ US). After this we decided to hit the waves. We went to a place called the mount. It is a small mountain, or a really large hill, at the end of a peninsula. The view is breathtaking. Here is a picture- note: I did not take this.

This is the mount, and the main beach of Tauranga. When we went, the waves were really strong, and because of the storm, you couldn't even see the top of the mount. The place the picture is taken from is known coloquiolly as the peninsula. It actually looks like an island from far away, but it is barely connected to the beach. Here is a photo of the peninsula from the mount- the peninsula is the lower bit of land, not the upper island.
Once we got on it, we climbed it- at it's highest it is maybe 60-80 feet above the crashing waves- going down into steep cliffs below. We split up and explored the entire islandish land form. At the top, where this photo is taken, is just a platform of grass and shrubs, surrounded by cliffs. As I climb up there, staring out to the sea, I feel totally alone- and I am. It is a wonderful, secluded feeling. I peer down one of the cliffs, only to be astonished to see the crazy canadian scaling the rock wall down to a lower platform below! When I say scaling, I do mean it- while it was not a sheer wall, it certainly required some climbing to be able to get to. Below me was a platform of weathered rock, polished clean and full of pools from the sea spray, full of sea critters. The platform is maybe 20 feet above the rough water. We all climb down (and I swear, the sea carved such perfect hand holds and footholds that no indoor climbing place could make the climb easier), and are standing on a whole stonescape utterly alein to us. With tide pools are the most fantastical carvings and shapes nature could make, shaped by millenia of water, spray and wind. At the very edge of this platform is something I later found was called 'the blowhole'. For those of you familiar with the term, you will know of what I speak. Imagine a cove where waves come in, but there is a bottleneck at the entrance. As a result, more water comes rushing in than there is room for, and it has nowhere to go but up. Thus, a huge spray of water, much like a geyser, forms. On a normal day, the fluctuations aren't that bad. We, however, got it on a pretty rough day. We stood on the edge of that blowhole and just watched in awe as a wave would roll in (after the water level dropped 10 meters or more within 5 seconds), get stuck, and come rolling up towards us. We got utterly soaked. I don't know if I had ever felt more alive. While the others continued to enjoy the blowhole, I explored the platform a little bit. I found an alcove about 10 feet up a wall, and climbed it. I sat down. It was carved like a throne- I enjoyed my little kingdom, and before I knew it we were climbing back up onto the main island. Once we trekked back down to the beach (and dove in the water fully clothed), we went on a drive. I didn't know where we were going, but we soon found out.
After a few minutes, we stop at a house in town. We got out, and were greeted by a group of people I had never seen before- it turns out they were friends of Anna. One was Sarah, a 25 year old chef. Her sister, Theresa, 20 years old, also lives there with her husband Paul of 1.5 years (I think it is so cool they got married so young). Their 4th is a girl who's name I can't remember. We were invited in, given showers, clothes, food and drink, and good conversation. These people had 2 houses and tons of gardens all to themselves, and they were more than willing to share. They gave us brownies, pizza, bread, and apples. They were phenomenal, and I will definately return. I was tickled to think of this place as a sort of commune, but it almost was. As I was walking to take a shower, one of the girls just walked out of a random room in full biker gear (helmet and all) and just walks past me. It left me a bit confounded, and totally amused.
After our wonderful drive back, we crashed for the night. It was the best day I had had so far here, but the next would be even better.

Saturday, we woke up bright and early to head to a place called Waitomo. Wai, in Maori, means water, while Tomo means cave or hole. Thus, it is fitting that this area of the country is covered in subterranean tunnels and caves. We had 8 of us going this time: Anna, Kristen, Andrew, Dylan and myself from the day before, and 3 new adventurers: Simon (NZ, claims he is half hobbit), V (from Thailand), and Mendy (either Thailand or China). We got there after a breathtaking drive through grassland and pasture, into mountains and then hills. Once we got to the place, we made a peasant lunch of foods we had gotten from a grocery store on our way- breads, cheezes, and salami, and fresh fruit juice (no sugar, literally only juice!). Of course, Anna provided chocolate (she loves chocolate). Once we got in the van, we were underway to the cave site, a 20 minute drive. The surrouding country looked like a movie. Put in lord of the rings. Look at the shire. Now multiply that by at least 3, and you will get how beautiful this place is. If I could use two words to decribe the place, they would be:
Utter Serenity.
Jutting out of the side of hills were rock walls- but they were so perfectly and evenly carved, they looked exactly like man made stone walls. They were, of course, all natural. Here's a pic of what we saw EVERYWHERE.

So, we don our gear- gumboots (galoshes), red helmets with lights, and wetsuits.
Wait, wetsuits?
Yeah, heavy ones too. Very similiar to the one I own, actually. This was a 'wet' cave experience. Thus, wesuits are definately needed.
We trekked in our gear to the cave we would be wandering through. We eventually got to a tiny pit no larger than a manhole cover, with a ladder. A ladder going straight down.

I slipped into total blackness. I hit the ground, the world of light above me and vanishing quickly. I flicked on my light and looked around. Is this what a cave looks like? It is so... dark. I was expecting a cavernous entrance to a well lit pathway, but what I got, was, well, a cave! I walk down to the first meeting point so everyone can get down, and walk through an underground stream. When I get to my point, I flick off my light.
Total darkness. Total, utter darkness. Space is not this dark, not night, not in the depths of your deepest closet. This is darkness so complete that your brain thinks you see things, while searching for the closest semblence of light. After a few seconds, there was some light to be found. It wasn't from people though- it was from gloworms.
The Waitomo caves are known for their gloworms. Here is a photo of them that does absolutely no justice, followed by a picture of them from farther away, showing the light they produce better. Neither of these are good shots, and neither are mine. The second shot also is something we did not do- we took no boat (though we did swim some of the way) and our cave was not lit like this picture. Thus, all the light we had was our helmets, and when those were off, the worms.

The worms, for those of you who care, are about 3 inches long and hang on the walls. They have a small glowing orb inside of them that moves around- this attracts prey (mainly, the adults of the species, which are flies). They lower dangly gooey strings to catch this prey, and bring it back up to eat it. The dangly bits you see are the strings, not the worms. Think of a spider, and that is how they work.

Anyway, the cave was amazing. I fit through spaces I thought I would get stuck on, I feel into water where I had no clue how deep it was, I sang Bohemian Rhapsody with a bunch of random strangers while swimming underground, I saw awesome little bioluminescent creatures, I climbed things I have wanted to do since I was a kid, and I took 0 pictures of it. I didn't even bring my camera (didnt want the poor thing to get ruined). I did, however, take a few other pictures with someone elses camera. I've tried to upload them, but I will reduce them in size and do it tomorrow. The internet is being buggy right now.

Today, I didn't do much. It doesn't hold a candle to the awesomeness of the two days prior.

Let me just reiterate: I cannot capture this place in words and pictures. It must be lived and experienced. You all might want to buy a one way plane ticket here, because you won't need the return trip- you won't want to leave...