Day 6: Auckland & Waitomo Caves

        By 7am we were leaving New Plymouth and on our way to The Waitomo Caves. I was excited to see the glowworms the cave is famous for, but I was pleasantly surprised when we were given the option to go Black Water Tubing in the cave! Most of us went with this option and it was probably the most fun I had the whole trip! We had to put on wetsuits and boots and helmets with lights and each of us chose an inner-tube to float us down the underground river. Putting on our wetsuits really set the mood for the trip. If you've ever put one on you'll understand what I mean because it's no easy task. By the time we got to the cave we were all laughing and in a great mood. Our guide took us for a ride in the junkiest van I've ever seen and then for a walk through a cow pasture. By the time we made it to the mouth of the cave we were all doubting the credibility of the operation, but our doubts were soon put to rest.
         My favorite part was at the very beginning. We got down on our hands and knees, ditched our tubes, and crawled single file through the water. I found the whole thing hilarious and by the time we got through to the waterfall on the other side I was fully my 12 year old fun-loving self and ran straight through the waterfall. Needless to say I laughed and laughed and made myself the perfect candidate for the guide to pick on. From then on he made me lead, often instructing us to turn off all our lights and feel our way through the cave. At first we walked, but then we got to a waterfall and he told me that I had to jump off it backward into the river onto my tube. I was a bit skeptical at first and took some convincing before I would jump, but it really wasn't very far at all and of course we were all fine.
          From then on we floated in or on our tubes and for a while we all made a chain and floated through together, finally separating to go down a water-slide and end our tour. I had an absolute blast and went straight to the office to buy the pictures. Unfortunately they were all really blurry, but it turned out great because they were so bad that she gave them all to me for free and threw in some stock photos of the cave with them.
           We showered and ate lunch by the bus and then we were off to Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. We said goodbye to some people here, including the last of my original group which was sad, but my new friend Nele and I walked around downtown, went to the park, ate by the waterfront, and then went up the Sky Tower. This was once the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. It has since been out-built, but it provided us with a lovely view of the city. We timed it well and went up at sunset and it was perfect. The photos are a little dark, but the sunset was pretty spectacular and full of color. I just realized that it did rain this night too, but we spent the night in a hostel so it didn't much matter. From here on out I would be camping again. And so ends day 6.