We had a lie in until 09:30 and eventually left Te Anga at 11:00. After a brief journey to Te Waitere to see the harbour we headed out back down the road to Waitomo Caves, stopping at scenic reserves on the way.
Our first port of call, which we almost ignored, was Marokopa Falls. We followed a track in to the forest and as I turned a corner I was faced with the most beautiful waterfall. My eyes opened enormously and my jaw dropped as they were the last thing I was expecting to see! We watched for a while, admiring their beauty and then enjoyed the return walk through the forest to the car.
OUr second stop was at Piripiri Caves. I asked our host, Hamish, this morning about the caves. He generally advises people not to go unless they are prepared, with caving gear, and decent footwear. Ian and I climbed up many steps, deep steps, to the cave entrance. Again, we weren't prepared for the sight we saw! A big, dark, damp, draughty cavemouth presented itself to me and I instantly cried 'I'm not going in there!' A couple of minutes later I was at the foot of two flights of steps photographing the stalactites above me! I could understand Hamish's advice about taking caving gear if we were to venture any further than the provided steps for tourism purposes!
Our third stop was at Mangapohue Natural Bridge which is where we visited last night in the hunt for glow worms. Ian was particularly good at spotting the little creatures by daylight having seen them at night. They are pretty identifiable by their threads if you know what you are looking for. When we reached the natural land bridge we realised we hadn't gone very far last night and recognised that the glow worms would have been incredible at the bridge last night. It was a pity we didn't make it that far. The bridge in daylight is a wonder. The story says that the walls of the gorge used to be a cave which under movements of the earths crust made the roof of the cave collapse. The only section of the roof remaining is now represented by a 'bridge' joining the gap between the two walls. The walkway through the bridge took us on a loop through a farmer's field back to the car park. It was here that we saw giant fossilised oysters that are thirty five million years old.
We drove on to Te Kuiti where we stopped for lunch. The cafe backed on to Brook Farm which was a sheep farm which had two walkways through the fields. We decided to go along one route and return on another so armed with cameras we strolled through sheep inhabited fields. I took loads of pictures of the sheep as we walked. An hour later we returned to the cafe having rambled through many lumpy hills and scared many fluffy sheep.
It was by this time nearly 17:00 so I had an urgent task of arranging some accommodation to complete. The second telephone call confirmed a booking in New Plymouth in a lovely, well furnished, hostel within walking distance to the main road.
Just before Awakino on the western coast I took over the driving again as Ian began to feel tired. He was also suffering badly from hayfever.
We had a couple of photograph stops on the way to New Plymouth but mainly we drove straight through to the city arriving at 19:00. Our total journey today covered 249 kilometres from Te Anga to New Plymouth.
We enjoyed a nice Thai meal before retiring at 22:30 in preparation for an early start.
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.