Adventures in Whangarei: Part 2

First thing in the morning after putting in my contacts, I packed my camera and flashlight. Josh 2, Whangarei 3.

Katherine invited me to climb Mt. Manaia with her, and I've never been one to turn down a good summit hike. Mt. Manaia is sacred in Maori lore---something about a bunch of people getting struck by lightning and turning to stone. It also provides a stunning view of the surrounding beaches and islands.

The sign at the bottom estimates a two-hour round trip. This sign obviously didn;t realize it was dealing with a fitness instructor and a Zumba queen. It took us a mere 35 minutes to reach the top, where we took our leisure enjoying the spectacle. Then El Nino decided to migrate to New Zealand and chuck* us off the mountiain, so we went down. Total time: one hour and five minutes. Score another one for Josh. Tie game!

*[That's metric for "throw".]

Rob was about to get off work when we got back to town, so we stopped by to see if he wanted to do the caves with us. He declined, citing a need to work late and a reluctance to get cold and wet. Then things took a dramatic turn for the worse when Katherine expressed a similar disinterest in being cold and wet, and suddenly I was on my own. Insert sad emoticon.

We went to a takeaway* restaurant for a fish and chips lunch. On the beverage menu was something neither of us had ever encountered: a fluffy. I offered to buy Katherine a fluffy if she would do the caves with me. Denied. I asked what she would be doing instead. Taking a shower. I informed her showers are wet. She's not budging. She was at least kind enough to drop me off.

*[New Zealand's answer to fast food.]

No more than 100 feet into the first cave, I encountered a group consisting of four Germans, a Frenchman, and a Japanese dude.* It turned out they were heading the same direction as me the next day, and just like that I had my ride to my next destination. Josh takes the lead!

*[I know what you're thinking, and no, he's not a kung fu warrior. However, his name is "Hiro", pronounced "hero". Japanese names for the win!

The caves were nothing short of spectacular. I've been in underground caverns before, but never without a guide, and all but one of my previous experiences were in well-developed caves...and none of them had glow worms. The unfettered nature of my exploration, the closer confines, and the raw majesty of the formations made me feel as though I had stumbled into some lost sanctuary where my very presence bordered on sacrilege.

At one point, a narrow chute leading down to deeper chamber beckoned. I couldn't resist. Scrambling around on hands and knees, I felt just like Gollum navigating his subterranean lair. I emerged in the deeper dungeon only to discover it was knee-deep in water. Let's just say it wasn't as warm as Katherine's shower. Good times.

After getting my fill of wading around in the frigid waters, I crawled back up the tunnel. Halfway up, I flet something explode in my knee. I was about to award Whangarei another point, but then I remembered I'm 30 now, and a ruptured knee is the natural order of things. I'm supposed to be falling apart. There would only be cause for concern if something didn't break down.

The cave's ceiling looked at me funny. Then it got lippy with me. I head butted a stalactite. Josh 637, Whangarei 3. Game. set. Match.

My new friends and I took some time to explore the nearby rock forest and climb a hill for no other reason than because we could. We exchanged stories and backgrounds, and I educated them on synonyms for excrement. Some things you should know about each of them:

Tim: The whitest German in the history of the world, and that's saying something.

Nicole: An amateur trampoline champion.

Thomas: This Frenchman can make catching one's foot on the top wire of an electric fence one is trying to jump and hitting the ground in a barrel roll look good.

Dennis: I've never met a German with such an affinity for Yankee Doodle.

Alice: Prone to summersaulting down steep slopes, completely undeterred by the cow pies. She also got really excited when i told her about couch surfing. The Force is strong in this one.

Hiro: His name is Hiro!

I went home and spent the evening exchanging funny youtube videos with Katherine and Rob. Also, Rob explained that a fluffy is like hot chocolate without the hot chocolate. Oh.