Day 2. We went to the Hamilton Temple. It was a stake temple day, so we were lucky to make the session. The temple patrons were all so sweet to us. Next we stopped at the Hamilton Botanical Garden. Nearly every city has a botanical garden, and they're all free! We only went to 3, but this one was my favorite. James and his mom found some unknown fruit growing on one of the trees. They ate them, and didn't get sick so I tried one. They tasted like a citrus-peach blend. Each fruit had 2 shiny, smooth pits. They were quite tasty! After wandering the garden for an hour or so, we headed to the Wiatomo Glow Worm Caves. There we suited up in wet suits and headed into the cave for some black water rafting (inner tubing). This is THE way to see the glow worms. Even Laura enjoyed it. Our group was just the four of us, one guy from Lithuania (I can't pronounce his name, let a lone spell it), and our guides (Lucy was hilarious). The cave exited onto a bush walk. After changing into our dry clothes, and having a cup of hot soup we headed back to the bush walk. It was SO beautiful. So green, and exotic. Thank goodness the trails all led back to the parking lot, or we'd probably still be there, lost. Finally, we traveled a few more hours to our condo at Lake Taupo. It was a long but adventure filled day.
2 comments:
Brings back good memories of our trip, too. The tubing through the caves sounds exotic...we were not so adventuresome, in our boat. Beautiful country. Thanks for the picture tour!
Does it make you long for the days of no one to be responsible for except yourself (well, maybe James needed you to help be responsible for him, too). :) Think warm New Zealand thoughts when it snows this week!
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