Asking for a camp spot in New Zealand that isn’t littered with sheep poop is akin to requesting a table in a rural Chinese restaraunt where the floor is devoid of spit and snot rockets; this is New Zealand where sheep outnumber people ten to one–what were we thinking?

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“I have to get up when?” I squawked at Kristy and The Ig.

They’d waited until after picking me up from the airport to break the news; they’d booked us all on a blackwater rafting trip through the Black Labyrinth for the next morning, but this required us to be up at just after six am.

Now, I’m all for doing fun schtuff, but these two need to have the record set straight; staying up until six am is fun, getting up at six am while on vacay is cruel and unusual punishment and should be outlawed.

We managed to catch our bus for the 3 1/2 hour ride down to Waitomo, which in Maori means “black hole.”

We met up with Pam and Andi (I forgot to mention in the last post that these two are the legendary Tequila Pam and Andi, the ones who saved our souls back in Datong with a care package including tequila…and just for old time’s sake, “Damnit Tequila Pam and Andi, we adore you!”) at The Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company,

where we met our guides and the rest of our group before suiting up in the provided gear.

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