We finished off Rotorua in the morning with a stop by the Agrodome, where 19 champion rams were paraded onto the stage while the host described each of them, their origin, and the product for which they are famous.
The merino wool sheep.
A sheep was shorn before our very eyes – top shearers can shear one sheep every 45 seconds.
Sheep dogs also demonstrated their herding abilities both on stage and in the field outdoors.
Skye and I stayed upstairs, while Bridguet and Alex stayed downstairs.
Then it was onto Waitomo, home of the world famous limestone formations and sparkling glow worms. Waitomo is all about getting underground because there is literally nothing else – farmland as far as the eye can see, one lodge, and one bar. Hmmm… I wonder where all the people go.
We all geared up before hitting the caves. I signed up for the Black Labyrinth underground cave tubing experience, which is called black water rafting.
Our blackwater rafting guide Lucas.
We climbed down into nature’s underground network, where streams spill, twist, and turn to build a river canyon.
We glided through the glowworm studded underworld of Ruakuri Cave, jumped over cascading underground waterfalls, caught a glimpse of daylight through a 65 meter tomo, and floated serenely down the river as we enjoyed the glowworm show on the vaulted limestone galleries above. At some points, the cave roof was within inches of my face, and at others, it was 65 meters above. We were wearing wetsuits, gumboots, and helmets with head-lamps. At various points along the journey, we turned off our lights so that we could see the glowworms above us. It looked like a galaxy of stars overhead. They look like clear spaghetti worms about 1-2” in length with just the end dot of their tail glowing. They have netting hanging below them to catch their prey. It was a very unique experience to be able to float through a cave.
Some people explore the caves by walking over bridges, while the more adventurous float through the caves.
That night we had a pizza party at the lodge, then strolled down the hill to the one bar in town, Curly’s.
We were clearly the tour group having the most fun, as we outlasted most and seemed to be the loudest. Shocking that I would be part of that group.
We got a giant beer bong (8 pints) which no one bonged; we all filled our glasses like well-behaved tourists.
And here we have more good behavior... jagerbombs were the shot of choice! J-bombs came out in full force, with up to 10 drinks lined up at once with the domino tipping shot glasses into each drink.
These guys were sucking down a suicide concoction of everyone's beer, wine, and cocktails. Yuck!!
Tearing it up at Curly's - me, Alex, Tess, Simon, Jared, Flick, and Skye
