Cape Foulwind, West Coast Drive, Puinakaiki Cavern and Pancake Rock

Westport, Cape Foulwind

KIWI bird?? From far, we actually thought it looked like a kiwi but then this is one 'brave' kiwi bird... asking for food from cars, hanging around humans. LOL... Then we found out it is called Weka, also a native flightless bird about the size of a chicken! Certainly deceiving :) just shorter beaks... hehe

Tauranga Seal Colony*** There's an observation lookout after some 15 mins walk from the carpark. But it is quite far to view the seals, we can hear really clearly the seals' call...

A heron...put off by the rain... like us... GOsh... rain please go away, we only had one sunshine day yday..

Resting area :)

Strong wind = big waves + rain = WET + COLD

The drive from Westport to Punakaiki is really beautiful, despite the raining weather today, like the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Came across this standalone cliff by the road side, and thought we might do some exploring.. There's actually a small cave in there :)

Then we ended up eating our lunch here... under the cliff, shelter from the rain...

Great Ocean Road??

Punakaiki Cavern, free access, located near the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. We need a torch light to hike in but there isn't much to see at all. We just came in to have a look since it's not high tide yet, and to shelter from the rain :P

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks***** Definitely a must go! The rock formation is so special, like pancake stack.. thus the name.. And there are pancakes selling at cafes nearby if you are in the mood!

It's a really nice short walk around the rocks and blowholes, and come during high tide! 

Big hanging arch..

SUper massive blowhole@ Punakaiki!!!

Very nice lookout, we can only imagine how nice it would be when the sun is up. We were there when the tide comes in and the blow hole is just massive! The right timing.. It's bigger than any blowhole we've seen in OZ. If you go during low tide you will be disappointed!

Look at that super BIG WAVES!! Amazingg.....

Really hard to tell the weather in spring. It had been raining on and off the whole day today. And the wind is so strong that it will push us forward sometimes!

True Beauty - Glaciers of NZ

Ruakuri Tunnel Walk and Whakamaru

Besides taking cave adventures that sounds crazy to you, the sightseeing around Waitomo area is really beautiful and we spent a a full day driving around Waitomo exploring caves and walks. This is Ruakuri natural tunnel**** walk at Waitomo, an easy half an hour walk.. 

Had our free cappuccino and muffin at Long Black Cafe@Black Water Rafting company. It was complimentary because our tour yesterday got delayed...

On the way out of Waitomo area, Peter was so excited seeing this highland cattle! Cause he did not see any in Scotland last time =P

Cute donkeyyYY...

Rainy weather creates great photo opportunity too =)

On our way to Lake Taupo, we stopped at this free camp at Whakamaru Reserve. The view is superb! Such beautiful place to camp for free :) we got to know this place through the curious kiwi web. Besides the Department of Conservation (DOC) camp site guide books, we always check if there is free camp from this website as some sites are maintained by the local council instead of DOC.

So much space for the two of us!

Amazing landscape to spend a night here...

Enjoying Morton Estate Pinot Noir

With our beef steak...

It is almost one week since we started our NZ adventures with KiwiZai (aka the VAN). Our KiwiZai is so comfortable, we have a good bed to sleep on each night with warmth! Aahh bliss... If we were to pitch a tent like we used to in Oz, we'll be wet and cold almost everyday. It had been raining frequently these days, typical spring season probably...

Huka Falls @ Lake Taupo

Waitomo Black Water Rafting

We have decided to go for Black water rafting in Waitomo. We have heard of white water rafting, but black water rafting? Sounds... Good... Its actually rafting in the cave river, using a tube, and look at the glow worms in total darkness. We searched online and came upon this company Black Water Rafting which offers 50% discount during off peak weekdays like tue-thur. But the tours were all full on those days, so we booked a monday Black Abyss Tour which runs for 5hours! Their original price is $220, if booked online there is 10% discount. We used the voucher from George's Auckland entertainment book which entitle us for 25% discount. Pretty good still :) From the tour description, it definitely sounds challenging..

It was an adventurous day indeed. Another first time in our lifetime. Imagine this: abseiling 35 metres into the cave, passing through a narrow gap, flying fox (though quite short distance, but in total darkness with the  glittering of glow worms), then jumping into the river (10degree celcius!) with a tube, floating through the river system to admire the glow worms, hiking and swimming in the caves,and finally climbing up two waterfalls! How Great is that?!

Practicing abseiling before the real thing...

There were two pretty cave guides, Janna and Anne. The abseiling is pretty easy, well for the girls. For the guys, it would be pretty 'uncomfortable' or painful going down. Lol.

Once everyone reached the bottom, we cling on to the flying fox and 'fly' inside the cave, in total darkness! Gosh it was so exciting. Janna made some banging sound which scares ANgie a LOT LOT since she's the first to go on the fox.

Getting ready to jump into the river with this black tube and do the black water rafting!

THis is a really blur picture as Anne try to capture these tiny lil glow worms!

It was nice laying back, floating on the tube, watching the glow worms but after a while our neck start to ache... oh gosh...

A: Obviously my helmet is not the right size =.=

The cave formation is not the 'amazing' thing but the main highlight of this tour is the adrenalin rush!

Crossing this cave tunnel, our whole body had to submerge in this freezing cold water.... 

Then at 61 metres depth, we had hot orange juice and chocolate after hiking in the river. Peter is freezing cold, then Anne use the remaining hot juice to pour into Pete's wetsuit. Warming him up a lil. Eat more fats Pete!

The last obstacle of the tour, we can choose whether to climb two waterfalls or use another easy way out. So both of us went for the waterfalls for sure! The guide is there to tell us which foot and hand to put where, so it is not that difficult.

YAY we made it!

When we want to take the final group picture, the guide had drop the camera down the waterfall! Oh no.... We have intended to purchase those pics, but now that its gone... Now that we are able to post those pictures above, they have found the camera, amazingly inside this cave =) and they mailed the photo CD to Malaysia for free! woohoo....

The whole tour is exhaustive, and cold all the way. But we had our hot showers and soup and bagel to warm up after which is really nice!

For us it was well worth the experience because it's a special adventure. We seen quite a few caves in OZ but none offer such experience. Another tour company, Waitomo Adventures offers also tours like this, they have a LOst WOrld 7 hour epic with 100metres abseiling.. OMG...

After the intensive adventure, we relax at the hostel wondering at these little fellas...

THis is one unique HOG! Curly hair and nose ring??

Pete's fav fruit, we intend to consume lifetime kiwi intake while in NZ! =D

Waitomo, Ruakuri Cave