Note: I had to sign a confidentiality agreement before I was allowed to go on this tour of an interesting piece of farm land that had been converted for a certain trilogy of films that shall remain nameless so I don’t show up on search engines and find lawyerly emails and phone calls awaiting me one day. Instead, I shall just make vague references and show you pictures instead. They just had a few clips on the news here showing the area in detail, so I don’t mind showing the pictures. I’ll respect the confidentiality agreement in keeping what I heard from general public ears/eyes though, since a lot of it relates to the ongoing filming and production. If you are really curious about certain aspects, feel free to email me.

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After spending an afternoon surfing, I had a day to myself to relax in Raglan. What better way than to explore and hike some of the highlights?

First up was the Bridal Veil Falls. From the top, other than the height they weren’t overly special.

It’s only when you move off to the side viewing platform that you really get a good view of them. The water cascades over the cliffs and fall 55 meters into the pool below.

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Because I hadn’t spent enough hours the day prior in a cold, damp wetsuit, I opted to head to Raglan next. Raglan’s on the west coast of New Zealand’s north island. It is known for but one thing really. As New Zealand’s surfing mecca.

Much like snowboarding, surfing was something that I’d always wanted to try. So here in Raglan I gave it a shot. The weather wasn’t great but the instructor was very good at keeping everyone moving. The waves were much larger than normal for beginners and the wind was howling, but we made the most of it.

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The Waitomo Caves are famed for their glow worms, a small maggot that creates a bio-luminescent secretion that gives off a bluish light. Many people come to the caves and take a walking or boat tour of some of these caves. That’s not for me, and numerous other adventure seekers however.

For those that want a bit of adrenalin with their sightseeing, there are numerous other companies in Waitomo that cater to that kind of thing. The one I went with was the largest and most well established, a company called ‘The Legendary Blackwater Rafting Co.’ Blackwater rafting isn’t really related to whitewater rafting at all, other than it involves water. But more on that in a second. They had two different adventure options, a 3 hour ‘Black Labyrinth’ and the 5 hour ‘Black Abyss’. I chose the Abyss.

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After my 2 days in Turangi, specifically for the Tongariro Crossing, I once again packed up my things and headed off to a new destination – Waitomo.

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