Pete's Blog

We picked up our camper van in Brisbane 11th June and headed south towards Byron Bay. We were a little cheesed off with the camper company (Hippie Campers/Apollo) as when we booked it we hadn’t realised that unlike in New Zealand they insisted on taking the full excess on the insurance ($2500!) as a deposit, and it had to be on credit card. We couldn’t afford to do that on card of course so we were forced into upgrading the insurance to reduce the excess which was really extortionate. It meant paying less money on the day to have more insurance. The van isn’t as big as the previous one either which makes it a bit more cramped and more difficult to cook!

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We arrived in Sydney Thursday afternoon and the weather was awful! We were told it had been raining consistently for the last two weeks as well! We found ourselves a hostel, and after some palaver involving going to the wrong hostel we got there and settled into our rather dingy room. We went for a walk in the rain through the botanical gardens to see the Opera House and Harbour bridge and then went back to the hostel when it got dark. That night we discovered that the room was not only a bit grotty but also had a slight leaking roof problem - it was literally pouring in! Thankfully they moved us to another room the next day which was much better. (It was the Globe Backpackers if anyone was wanting to avoid it - but it was cheap!)

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We drove to Waitomo where we had booked to do a Black Water Rafting trip with ‘The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.’ After kitting up in some uncomfortable and soggy wetsuits, we took a minibus to the Ruakuri cave where we descended via the ‘wet entrance’. It was quite good fun, although I think a little bit less adventurous than Pete was hoping for! We jumped off quite a few waterfalls underground and cruised along the underwater passages on our tubes (big rubber rings) viewing the glow worms which live up on the roofs of the passages. After the trip we had a much needed hot shower and soup and bagels! It was quite good fun, although rather pricey, considering we can cave for free at home!

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