May 5

Saturday, May 5

We got good rest that is until about 7 or so when all our neighbors went bananas making noises. Singing, talking, sneezing, showering…annoying! Turns out these were some of the country music singers and they were a whole big group of teenagers. Ugh.

When I left the room to get something from the car, the whole lot of them were seated around some tables gabbing loudly over breakfast. They said good morning but I couldn’t hardly muster eye contact with these people.

Josh and I were ready in a flash and we checked out at 5 past 8. A sign said reception would not open until 8:30. We left our key in a ledger on a chair behind the desk and off we went. I took a picture of the hostel and was glad that God had gotten me through my one night there. I told myself it was only one night and that it would be better in the morning. Feeling well enough rested if slightly annoyed by the noise, Josh and I were off to grab some breakfast before heading to Charleston.

We went to the New World and bought some apples, more chocolate granola bars, and we got some egg and bacon and spinach and feta quiches heated up from the bakery. We also grabbed a bag of chips and we were out.

We reached Charleston on time and finished a granola bar. As we finished, Marilyn, a cave receptionist lady drove up and told us to meet her inside to register when we were ready. We filled out a paper form then met the other woman, Rose from Ireland, who was joining us on the tour. It was only going to be the three of us on this trip…a good start but we all remember how the ATK thing went.

Our guide, Ray, showed up and he reminded Josh of Bob Steinmiller from HSU. After paying and putting our valuables in the safe, we went to the shed out back for our gear. We got wet suits, booties, shoes, gloves, hand paddle thingies, life vests and a bag to put all our gear in. We loaded up in a shuttle van and headed down the road.

Once we were into the forest, we stood on a train platform while Ray took a key to unlock the train that was situated inside a large metal box at the end of the train track. The train came out and in we went after taking a picture. While we rode in the train, Ray provided commentary about the flora and the fact that the BBC just taped The Lost World here. It was kinda like riding the shuttle tram in Silver Dollar City.

At the end of the track, we disembarked and opened our gear bags to put everything we needed on. Josh looked hilarious in his BRIGHT ORANGE wet suit. Too funny! We were outfitted and photographed before walking into the forest to get our inner tubes. Tubes in hand, we crossed a suspension bridge, climbed 117 steps and reached the mouth of the cave.

Man, I hate caves. All I could think about was earthquakes. It was really cool though being on what was essentially a private tour though. We learned a lot and Ray had a lot of good stories. He even explained the whole earthquake thing which was FASCINATING. Basically, it just depends on where the epicenter of the earthquake is located how the cave will respond. People have even been on tours when there were earthquakes! Hoped not us!

Awesome cave formations and rooms…we even turned off all our helmet lights at one point and it was insanely dark I was about to panic it was absolute darkness…pitch black. But we were really here for the glow worms and the tubing. We got to that part, learned about the glow worms then set off in the dark with their green lights shining above us. Magical. Nothing like it. Awesome. Incredible. Remarkable. Too cool for words.

Then, I lost one of my paddle glove thingies but Ray managed to find it for me. Good on ya mate. We paddled a bit outside before hopping out of the tubes to get to the rapids part. Wicked. Josh went down first and did it totally perfect. I went down backwards and so did Rose. We then continued downstream with smaller rapids interspersed. It was so cool!!! This rules!!!

Then, we were done. Out of the water, put the tubes up, change your clothes, train ride and shuttle bus ride back to the station. What a day – What an adventure!! Highly recommended and much better than ATK! Ray gave us drink vouchers so we all got a hot chocolate after unloading the gear and ourselves.

Marilyn had the pictures for us to look at and said they’d be online for a while. She printed off some small pics for us to take with us. We were done around 2 which was an hour later but Ray said he’d told us a lot of stories. It was a good day and we had a great time.

Here's a link to some of our photos: http://www.caverafting.com/showset.asp?folder=2007-05-05_UR_Morning

Back on the road towards Westport, raining again and fog. We were headed to Hanmer Springs which was about a 3 hours drive away. Josh said we’ve definitely not had good weather this trip. I said that overall, when it mattered to have good weather, we’ve had it. Like it was raining when we were going down the rapids but it didn’t matter since we were wet anyway.
We left the old area of Westport behind (billboard signs so unfortunate: Want Switzerland: See Queenstown, Want New Zealand: See Westport or Want England: See Christchurch, Want New Zealand: See Westport). I mean, these are very clever signs, however, I wouldn’t want to think of Westport as what New Zealand towns really are. Ugh.

Rainy road, fog, fog, rain, etc. Not much to see or do so no stopping. Besides, our cell phone is dead and we have to make it to the next hostel by 6 pm (or call for arrangements if late). The sun finally starts to break free in the late afternoon and we have some great views of ice blue water and mountains while driving. Josh and I are both a little drowsy but make it into Hanmer Springs without a problem.

We actually went into town rather than making the early turn to come to the hostel and avoiding town. This town, or “village” as the girl at the hostel who checked us in called it, has a much more happening vibe than the depressing, industrial, downtrodden feel of Westport. I plan to go out for dinner in town tonight. We realize that we’d gone too far into town so we backtrack and find the hostel easily enough in a residential area. Another couple checks in ahead of us but we are quickly taken care of, pay, and our shown our room (soooo much nicer than the Trip Inn and it only cost $6 more) and the public areas. We left our big suitcases in the trunk again tonight.

Our room is in a duplex of sorts. It’s our room (a double ensuite for $60) and next door is a twin room. It all looks new: paint, carpet, bedding, etc. Very cute and nice. When we read that bedbugs have been found in Kaikoura and Christchurch, however, we get nervous. We always have a look now at bed linens and check the mattresses as best we can. Golly, I sure don’t want bed bugs!!! Yikes!

Josh and I took a hot shower and then decided it’d be better to make the rest of the spaghetti to use the leftover sauce. Josh went to get the food started while I finished getting ready. I joined Josh but the water in the pot took so long to boil. I made a hot tea while we waited. When the food was finally ready we both sat at the long picnic table in the kitchen with other strangers and had dinner. We thought this spaghetti tasted better than the last time we made it. Really good.

Then, we watched some more tv and were able to catch the American Idol results show…what a waste because they didn’t kick anyone off this week! I made a coffee for me and a HOT chocolate for Josh (he’d burned his tongue earlier today on his free hot chocolate). We headed to the room after AI and Josh and I uploaded the pictures to the laptop. I wrote in the travel journal while Josh read Harry Potter.

It’s now 12:05 am and we plan to wake up at 8:30. That should be nice…seriously hope there’s no bed bugs in this place…Josh is majorly sweating in bed tonight with only the sheet on so I’ll turn off the oil heater. Man, you should have seen how bad the poor guy was sweating in his wet suit before we got into the river. Toting his tube, bending over in the cave all while wearing a wet suit really took it out of Josh but he did a great job!!

Tomorrow’s plan is to enjoy the thermal pools here in town and then to drive to Kaikoura. Let’s have another day or two or three without rain, mate!