Glowworms in Waitomo and Skydiving in Taupo

Holy Cow, what an exciting day (Thursday June 1)! Today we woke up really early for a 7:30 departure for Adventure Caving...

Basically, when we were told to put on freezing cold wetsuits, wetsuit socks, flannel jacket, and a helmet with a light outside in the freezing NZ temperatures. It was extra painful because the wetsuits are really hard to get on and they were already wet!! The booties even had ice on them! Yeah, I've never been so cold in my life. Then we drove up to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves to learn to abseil.
The ropes to abseil (you know, when you go down a mountain and you're attached to a rope and harness) were frozen so learning was not much fun. We got to the cave's edge and I abseiled 35 meters down all by myself and then waited for everyone else to do it also.

The next step, I was hooked up to a zip line and pushed off the edge of a rock into the interior of the cave, speeding extremely fast, not being able to see anything because it's pitch black... screaming! As I hit the end of the zip line, I could clearly see the glow worms on the ceiling and I sat quietly until everyone had arrived.

We drank some tea with our legs dangling off the edge of a really high ledge over 50F black water below... and then we were told to jump off the ledge onto an inner tube! WHAT?? I was pretty freaking scared but did it. Yikes...

Then we floated in the dark/freezing water and watched the glow worms above us (really just maggots that are trying to attract other insects by pooping substance that glows).
Glowworms = Maggots + Poo

Then, waded neck high in freezing water for about 10 minutes over rough rocky floor but before we got to the next part, the tea had already gone straight through both Meg and I. Well, we were warned not to 'pee' in the wetsuits because they absorb liquid and they would smell so the instructor asked us take OFF OUR WETSUITS and pee in the cave! It was so cold and such a bitch to get the suits back on again. haha! Apparently we were the only ones who had to pee in over 5 hours... riiight... I think we were the only honest ones!

Then we floated on our backs with the current to nother part of the cave where we crawled through TINY spaces and under low hangings in which our whole bodies were submerged in water except for enough space for our heads to fit if we turned them sideways. Cool.

The final part of the caving experience involved climbing UP two waterfalls with the water pouring down in your face and trying to find food holes in the rocks under the water. That was challenging and exciting.

So after some tea and hot soup, we caught the KIWI bus again and headed towards Taupo. I slept the whole way and woke up at the Skydiving Center. It wasn't more than 45 minutes before Meg and I were all strapped up and ready to jump out of an airplane over the stunning Lake Taupo and the mountains that surround it.

To make the view even more fabulous, it was sunset when we actually jumped from the plane.

Yes, I went for the ol' skydive again. The freefall was incredible... despite the fact that I couldn't breath and felt like I was suffocating. Apparently I forgot to close my mouth and breath through my nose... oops. Then the gliding time couldn't have been more beautiful with the snowcapped mountains and huge crystal blue lake Taupo... pine trees and bright green rolling hills covered in sheep.

What a day!
This is Lake Taupo. You will see more pictures in the Tongariro Crossing Blog.