My family along with our friends' families as a big group visited Hamilton, the city where I lived my early childhood when my family and I came here to New Zealand for the first time. We actually didn't go straight to the town but first entered the three Waitomo caves located one hour away from Hamilton.
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| I'm the kid with the red vest. |
The first cave was beautiful filled with the lovely company of glow worms. We went on a small boat ride and had to keep quiet as possible and turn off our devices, otherwise the glow worms (they're actually maggots) turn their lights off and transform the cave into pure darkness, definitely not worth of our money.
On our way to the second cave I started to get carsick. I haven't gone on road trips for a very long time and I lost my ability to handle long trips. I had trouble climbing up the stairs to the entrance of the cave nearly falling in the middle of a huge flight of muddy outdoor stairs. My father took care of me, ready to catch me if I slipped or had a huge case of dizziness. As I regained my conciousness I got to experience the cave. The first was better since this cave didn't contain glow worms or interesting history.
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| Here I am in the second cave named Aranui, still having spells of dizziness as I clench onto the hand railing. |
The last cave enchanted me. It was called the Ruakuri cave, meaning 'two dogs' in Maori. This cave did have a mind-catching history. The tour guide mentioned that a particular family owned the cave and held tours, but the government didn't approve of the claim. So the family got their cave taken off them and the government stopped holding tours for visitors. Later on the family found out a law that whoever owned it first will keep it forever throughout generations. Reminds me of kindergarten, but with landmarks instead of toys.
After all the cave visiting we escaped to Hamilton to stay in a hotel and in the hotel room we stayed in there was an exciting surprise - a jacuzzi was sitting on one side of the master bedroom! My sister and I immediately got in and enjoyed the bubbles in the warm water.
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| Spending the night with wet hair, comfy pyjamas, my mum's phone and a novel to read. |
When the next day came it was Easter day so what better way to celebrate the holy day with attending mass. In Hamilton we already knew what church to attend mass since I went to a school with a cathedral right next to it during my time in Hamilton. The church remained the same layout as the last time I came to visit two years ago.
Our group had a quick lunch in a Chinese restaurant and departed to go back to our homes. I still feel dizzy spells from the carsickness.
-M.Y ❤
