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Saturday, December 16, 2006
- 17-18 Nov (Waitomo to Taupo)
Taupo is a popular place for the locals. They like to come here for some relaxation. It is situated in the central north of NZ. We stayed at Taupo for 2 nights, it was also here where jiayu and Pei Shan caught up with us.
Sadly, the weather was bad during our stay. It kept raining.
Our initial plan was to do skydive (the cheapest in NZ) on the first day and Tongariro Crossing (one of the best 1 day hike in NZ) on the second day. But both was cancelled due to the weather.
Anyway, on the second night, fang, carol and huiling surprised us by appearing at our accommodation. It felt great to see them. They too had loads of fun travelling by car.
YHA accommodation for the 2 nights at Taupo. 
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Huka Fall was our first stop in Taupo.
Grey sky, Boo.. The colour of the water is actually quite nice - turquoise, but couldn't really tell from this picture.
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Taupo Primary School
Instead of putting up signs that say "Be careful", "Look out", "Danger", I find it interesting to see "Take Care" instead.
Lake Taupo. The local describe it as the size of S'pore.
Restaurants by the Lake...
Sunset and evening stroll in the small town...
Sometimes when you get a passer-by to take photo, this is what you may get...Lolx
The restaurant behind us is called "Hell". It's famous for its pizza.
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Peishan and Jiayu at the Finns Bar
This is not photoshop! There was really a "Holy Cow" shop behind. Jiayu's artistic mind at work... That's Peishan in the picture.
Last night at Taupo with all the ladies gathered together...Notice that most of us had rosy cheeks due to the strong UV ray..
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
- 16 Nov ( Rotorua to Waitomo)
Lucas and Karl made my day today!! They were my instructors for Black Water Rafting. I want to do it again! I miss Black Water Rafting so much already... It's really a MUST try activity if you go to Waitomo.
Waitomo is the home of NZ's world famous Waitomo Glowworm Caves and of course the legendary Black Water Rafting.
There are basically two options: the Black Labyrinth and Black Abyss.
We opted for the Black Abyss which is more expensive but more adventurous (NZ$179).
Black Abyss is the ultimate adrenaline rush.
It includes Abseiling, Climbing, Jumps, Tight rock squeezes, Flying Fox, Breathtaking Glowworm sight, Fighting through waterfalls and fast-flowing water.....
We had a short abseiling training before the actual descend into the Ruakuri Cave.
There was one part where we had to "swim". Why the inverted comas? Because you can actually float on the water (without any float or support) so you need not know how to swim in order to try Black Water Rafting. I was totally amazed!!
I didn't want it to end. The experience is definitely beyond words can describe.
Want to expect the unexpected? Try Black Abyss!
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First stop at Waitomo: Angora Rabbits Shearing.........
Sheep shearing I saw before, but rabbit shearing?? It was my first time observing the process...
It seemed cruel, but if the fur were not sheared, the rabbit will die...
I can't stand it, the rabbit was soooo cute! Mummy was asking us why we didn't bring one back home for her...
Colourful knitted baby booties.. Aren't they just adorable?
We stayed at YHA accommodation. This got to be one of the best place we stayed at during the 3 weeks. Because there wasn't enough room, twin and i shared a twin bedroom at the price of a dorm. After checking in, we headed straight to Black Water Rafting!
A victory sign after finished wearing the wetsuit because it was hard work! We encountered the same hard time when taking it off...lolx
Group photo before the adventure...
Abseiling down the limestone.. 37 metres high!
My very first time trying out abseiling!
Enjoying the snacks, tea & coffee served by Lucas and Karl by the cliff. Little did we know that we have to jump down from where we were into the water in absolute darkness!
Huddling together inside the cave.. It was very cold inside even with our wetsuits on.. We had to keep moving to keep ourselves warm..
We were sitted on a rubber float. At one point, we were told to form a line by placing our legs under the armpits of the person infront of us and switched off our headlight. We were then taken on a cruise to see the glowworms! I remembered resting my head on the float and staring up at the amazing sight above me..