A couple of days after going through the glow-worm caves, we decided to return to do some 'black water rafting'. This involved going into some different caves with an inner-tube, walking through some pretty tight spaces, floating along an underground river, and jumping backwards off waterfalls. It was great fun, made all the better by the constant view of glow-worms above us; the water was quite cold but the wetsuits kept us warm enough for a couple of hours
On the 21st of January we left Derek and Hamilton and headed across to Rotorua for a few days. That night we went to Tamaki Village for another Maori cultural experience, this time including a traditional Maori Hangi, which is a meal cooked by steam in a large hole in the ground. Before the meal I got roped into a couple of things, including learning the Haka, much to Holly's amusement; the meal was also really good accompanied by traditional Maori songs and performances.
We got down to Hamilton on the 14th, after putting the car through it's WOF test (MOT equivalent) which it passed with no problems much to our delight. We are staying with another of Holly's relatives named Derek. The day after we arrived we went into the center but soon concluded there wasn't a great deal there, so returned back to Derek's for a wine drinking session that seemed to happen whether he had guests or not!
The next day we went to Hobbiton, which is where some of 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' films where made. We had a tour of the set, where we learnt about the ridiculous amount of detail that went into making sometimes just a 1 second shot. It was a really great morning, including a pint in The Green Dragon, followed up in the afternoon by going to the cinema to watch the final 'Hobbit' movie.
On the 17th we drove across to Waitomo to the glow-worm caves. You weren't allowed to take pictures, though I doubt they would've come out anyway. The caves were incredible and the guide was great, we had about half an hour walking through, before getting on a boat and floating down the remainder of the caves in complete silence, with thousands of glow-worms hanging above us. The caves were amazing, though we decided glow-worm was definitely a better name for them than what they actually are, which is the lava stage of a fungus gnat.
On the 7th of January we went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where a controversial treaty was signed in 1840 between the British and the Maori. We had a guided tour of the grounds where we learnt all the history, before going into the Maori meeting house (right) for a cultural performance. This included native songs and dances, including the Haka.
On the 8th we went across the water to Russell for the day. The hostel in Paihia had 3 people who were doing regular circus performances at the beach. On the way to catch the ferry to Russell we found we were slightly early, (yes it does happen!) so we sat down to watch them for a bit. Just my luck they spotted me and roped me in to a crowd participation bit. It ended up with me throwing flaming torches up to one of them on a massive unicycle! As much fun as this was..., it also meant we completely missed the ferry and had to catch one an hour later! I walked over to Long Beach which was beautiful, but lost track of time and had to run all the way back to jump on the ferry just as it was about to leave! I like to think I'm efficient.
On the 21st of January we left Derek and Hamilton and headed across to Rotorua for a few days. That night we went to Tamaki Village for another Maori cultural experience, this time including a traditional Maori Hangi, which is a meal cooked by steam in a large hole in the ground. Before the meal I got roped into a couple of things, including learning the Haka, much to Holly's amusement; 
On the 17th we drove across to Waitomo to the glow-worm caves. You weren't allowed to take pictures, though I doubt they would've come out anyway. The caves were incredible and the guide was great, we had about half an hour walking through, before getting on a boat and floating down the remainder of the caves in complete silence, with thousands of glow-worms hanging above us. The caves were amazing, though we decided glow-worm was definitely a better name for them than what they actually are, which is the lava stage of a fungus gnat.
On the 8th we went across the water to Russell for the day. The hostel in Paihia had 3 people who were doing regular circus performances at the beach. On the way to catch the ferry to Russell we found we were slightly early, (yes it does happen!) so we sat down to watch them for a bit. Just my luck they spotted me and roped me in to a crowd participation bit. It ended up with me throwing flaming torches up to one of them on a massive unicycle! As much fun as this was..., it also meant we completely missed the ferry and had to catch one an hour later! I walked over to Long Beach which was beautiful, but lost track of time and had to run all the way back to jump on the ferry just as it was about to leave! I like to think I'm efficient.
