Waitomo Adventure

YROA YNOT headed on an adventure to Waitomo to tackle the Black Water Rafting Company's, Black Labyrinth tour. Ten of us in total, travelled by van over to Waitomo. Lots of fun and laughter was had during the trip even some trivial quizzes on New Zealand kept us on our toes. We arrived very late in the night at the Waitomo Top 10 Holiday Park and were very pleased with our accommodation, even though some may have only seen the inside of their eye lids for a couple of hours before getting up for breakfast. The whole team pitched in to get our breakfast prepared and a cut lunch to take away on our adventure. The aim of the trip was to get to know one another and feel comfortable and be a part of the team.

The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company is New Zealand's first black water rafting adventure operator. They have been sharing thrills and excitement since 1987, and have experienced guides who took us safely through the stunning underworld of Ruakuri Cave.

Our journey began with introductions from our guides, they were fascinated that the whole group was from New Zealand, as the attraction usually has a high percentage of overseas visitors. Then it was off to the fitting room. All bits and bobs were squeezed into thick black rubber to protect us from bumps and bruises and to keep us slightly warm. From there we travelled to the test jump area, where we had to fit our bottoms to an inflatable tube and demonstrate jumping from a pier into the stream below landing on the tube. Some managed to perfect this task on their first jump, some (not naming names – Ali Maru) managed to flip off and get wet before we even started. Following that we travelled to the entrance of the Ruakuri Cave and were told the story of the kuri's that use to hide in the caves and the people of the area hunted them for food and clothing. Once we understood the history of the cave we were able to enter. The caving experience was amazing, throughout the journey we met eels, , jumped waterfalls, learned the whakapapa of glow worms, shared chocolate fish and made a life time connection as a team. At the end of the adventure we were served with hot soup and buns. After a quick visit to the Glow Worm enclosure we were back on the road heading home.

The trip was very short but also very sweet, the crew felt refreshed and ready to tackle the year ahead.