Waitomo Caves & A Wild Party

Unfortunately, the good wind didn’t materialise. On the last day, my kite simply fell out of the sky. Should probably go on. On the way to New Plymouth, we stop off in Waitomo. Glow worms await us in the largest caves in New Zealand. Our guide Tim gives an impressive and gory description of how it’s better not to abseil. Then we descend 30 metres vertically.

We walk along an underground river. A few hundred metres from the entrance, we switch off our lamps. All the walls glow green in the light of millions of glowworms. One fly caught makes the arse of the glowworms glow for three months. It would be pretty cool if humans could do the same: glow with their bums after eating instead of stinking…

We drift across the river through the dark in old car inner tubes. Only the glow worms give us an idea of the 3D shapes of the cave. A waterfall stops the tour and we continue on foot through narrow crevices and holes. The water is icy, despite 5 mm neoprene. After almost three hours, we climb back into the daylight. The grin lasts a long time.

We have an invitation to a party in New Plymouth for the evening. Despite our rather German driving style, we arrive long after dark. We find the hostel five minutes before closing time, unpack and move on immediately.

Russell’s party is in full swing shortly before 11pm. 150 Kiwis are going wild all over the house. After a few minutes I have a funny device in my mouth: a 1 metre long, thick tube. A funnel at the top. Nice draught, but I still prefer beer from bottles.

People hang chairs in trees, burn toys, barbecue gas cartridges, ride on children’s cars. They wear moustaches, weird glasses and even weirder jumpers. The music is good and loud, but I wait the whole evening in vain for a certain Fatboy Slim video.

A guest rides through the garden on a two-stroke microbike. The traffic warden looks on impassively. Someone is playing snowman in the bathroom with a whole packet of washing powder. Around one o’clock at night, 40 people jump through the kitchen hatch into the living room. Susi gets a good bruise, I bang my head and the guest after me arrives on the other side without trousers. Or in short: bomb party.