Some amazing places

Had a great week with Irene and Roger. It was so good to return somewhere and see what progress has been made in a year and to help get things on the move again. They do like a plan. They have been so kind and generous, i shall share more with you when i get to Australia next month.

Three bus journeys later and i am in Raglan. The third bus was a local service at 3.30pm and packed with school kids. They patiently waited until all the full fare passengers had got on and then filled the bus. So different to how i remember traveling on the bus from school, i was quizzed constantly for the duration of the journey about where i had been and come from and what England was like and why we have so many Indian restaurants.

Sue picked me up from the bus stop and we came back to the house where i met her husband Keith and son Tom who is nearly four and likes cheese sandwiches with a top on to eat!! Amazing house in the bush surrounded by huge tropical plantings and forest and not a sound except the birds and the wind in the trees.

My task, to prepare an area for a lawn and get it sown by the end of the week.

The Bridal Veil Falls were amazing, a totally huge and unexpected waterfall in what felt like fairly flat terrain, Raglan beach at sunset, the only day that the waves have been small enough to contemplate surfing and i didn't go prepared, the waves have been huge since so i made do with a trip to Waitomo caves for the Black Abyss trip. Abseil 35m down into the cave system through the smallest hole in the ground, take a flying fox, rope swing, over waterfalls in the pitch dark before jumping off rocks into deep dark water and floating downstream on giant rubber rings looking up at 'constellations' of glowworms deep within the massive cave system. Wet and cold for 4 hours but exhilarating and worth every dollar. So much fun i may even go abseiling again.