Original Otorohanga

(28th - 31st December)

Our route north took us first to Whanganui River, and then to a small town called Otorohanga. Whanganui River had lots of kids running around the campsite, but other than that there wasn't a lot in the area with the weather as it was, so we kept heading north-west to Otorohanga, via a dormant volcano, Mount Taranaki. The rain and wind had by now stopped, although the clouds were still quite low so we were unable to see the mountain in its full glory. Instead, we took a walk down to some falls nearby which were pretty amazing, but pretty steep. We also saw one of NZ's first hydro power stations - it was tiny!

We spent a couple of nights in Otorohanga with a view to go to the Gloworm caves in Waitomo in the middle. We queued up with all the other coachloads of people to enter the caves, and were quite relieved when the coaches were taken off on their own tour with the rest of us left to go on the next available one in a more manageable-sized group.

The caves looked great - you'll have to take my word for it as no photos were allowed. Although I came here last time, I'd forgotten what they looked like inside, and generally they were quite different to many of the other limestone caves I've seen.