They're not glow worms they're maggots with glowing shit!

Our first week in New Zealand has flown by. With only a small delay on day one, when the engine on our plane wouldn't start (yikes), the rest of the week has been smooth sailing. 
After picking up our Metallica van (as seen in the picture below) we headed north, stopping at Goat Island Marine Reserve (north of auckland) for some snorkeling that didn't happen because the water was murky from rain, then to the city of Whangarei for New Years Eve. I'm embarrassed to report that our new years eve was uneventful, but guilt free. I mean that in the sense that there is always so much hype and pressure surrounding that night and then plans fizzle and you end up feeling guilty for not celebrating with a bang. Anyways, I digress. We went to a pub and partied with the most abstract crowd ever, ranging from surfers to 60 year old hippies with no teeth and thick mullets.
New years day, however, might be one of the best on record. With no hangovers, we dipped into the pocket book and took an all day cruise to the Poor Knights Islands. They are a protected marine reserve rated as one of the worlds top 10 diving sites. We started out with some snorkeling but the water was FREEZING even for us Canadians. It was hard to catch your breath. Q was able to tolerate the waters for longer than I was, so after my joints started feeling arthritic I jumped out, had a hot cup of tea and basked in the sun while I waited for my hardcore husband to finish exploring archways and caves. Once he was finished it was on to more adventure ... Learning how to paddle board (standing on a surf board and paddling). I wasn't going to try it since I had already warmed up and dried off, but after Q attempted it, flailing like a baby fawn, I thought I would give it a go and show him how it was done :) Turns out I'm a natural, I stayed dry the whole time. After the activities, the boat toured us around the islands, into the largest sea cave in the world and through some massive sea arches. 

After the Poor Knights we travelled north to the Bay of Islands. We found a campsite along the ocean and decided to have a little nap....we woke up at 11:30 and called it a night. I guess the full day of activities caught up to us. The next morning we spent the day hanging out in the town of Russell, basically an ocean version of Sylvan Lake. It was a pretty lazy day as I (Q) wasn't feeling so great.

A couple of nights here and there and we made it to the Waitomo Caves. There is a enormous caves system here that runs 800m below the surface. The caves are famous for it's glow worms, which cling to the cave roofs and illuminate like stars. We learned that the "glow worms" are actually fly larvae, aka maggots, that have phosphorecent feces. We booked ourselves in with a rafting (inner tube, no raft) company that takes you floating along on an undeground river, through some of the glow worms caves. We were 65m underground for an hour floating and spelunking along one of the main rivers. At one point we were jumping backwards off waterfalls and another time we were told to shut off our headlamps as we went floating underneath thousands of glow worms! It honestly looked a lot like the prairies on a very clear night.
Wednesday we drove to the city of Rotorua. It's known for it's geothermal activity and Maori history. Here there is still a village of about 75 Maori people that live among the thermal pools using them to cook (some pools are 100 degrees celsius) and bathe. The ground is hot to touch and in some areas is literally steaming. In those areas of the village they have built wooden boxes over top to cook food similar to an oven. It's a really unique area with mud pools and geysers, but the entire city stinks of sulphur. 
Yesterday we made our way to Taupo and then on to Tongariro National Park. We debated bungee jumping in Taupo but decided if we were going to do it we would wait until Queenstown. It will cost about $360 and we aren't sure if it's worth it. Any advice??? In Tongarino we planned on doing a 20 km hike rated one of the best in the world. It's actually the same mountain they used to film Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately it's been raining so the conditions aren't condusive to hiking. We will wait until tomorrow (Saturday), and then head to Wellington to catch the ferry Tuesday morning. One perk of the cold rainy day is in order to warm up we had our first taste of meat pie which NZ is famous for. It's delicious! Some people in my family are familiar with grandmas stew meat? Well it's basically that stuffed in a crispy pastry. Yumm-O!
Hope everyone is well. Keep the updates coming. We love news from home :)