Day on the Road

We checked into our beach motel 45 minutes north of Wellington after midnight because we had to go to the airport from the ferry to pick up a car. The proprietor of the motel had gone to bed but the proprietor of the original motel (that was sold out) waited up for us and took us to the new motel.

Today (15NOV) started early with a good breakfast @ Jan's Café with a beautiful view of the beach.  The winds were howling with gusts about 30mph - white caps covered the ocean's surface.

We departed Paraparaumu and headed to Waitomo Valley.  It rained most of the way which made the drive a bit tense but we had good tunes (iTunes) and good company.

We arrived at the Waitomo Caves Hotel about 5pm - An older hotel probably built around 1930.  "Quaint" was the term Tony used when he opened the door to our room and saw a 2 poster bed. It could use a few updates but the hotel sits on top of the hill, we've got a beautiful view and the rate is right... $99/night, includes breakfast and they have laundry facilities @ $2/wash, $2/dry.  We decided to book a 2^nd night so we can do laundry so we don't have to spend our 1^st few days in Perth with Genie at the Laundromat.

We made our reservations for tomorrow (16NOV) for a day of adventure with Blackwater Rafting Company.  We chose the Big Daddy package (actually called The Black Abyss) which includes abseling, climbing waterfalls, flying fox and tubing down the river in the caves.  It should prove to be a very wet day !  Sorry... no pictures from this adventure as we'll be too busy holding on for dear life to even be  able to carry a camera ! 

More to follow tomorrow !     View pictures from the last couple of days by sorting by Nelson  Waitomo - more to follow in a day or so.