Waitomo
December 8th

We made it to Waitomo this morning. Not as much rain today - just little spurts.  We left early from Auckland and had a great bus ride down.  The drivers give a little tour information along the way.  The land on the way down is mostly dairy farms (pronounced "dierry fahms").  It was all very interesting until he explained that when the cows give birth each year, a couple calves are kept and the rest are left in these pens that he pointed out by the road.  They are picked up and taken to the slaughterhouse.  Why?  Not for the kiwis to eat - but for export to the United Sates.  Yes, we are the only pigs who insist on "milk fed" veal - so these 5 day old calves are all ours.  He ended with "that's the way they like them there....".  Being the only Americans on the bus, we felt the need to declare our veal-less diets.  
 
We toured the Museum of the Caves and then took a bushwalk to another cave. It was beautiful and took all afternoon. 

My camera batteries were running low so today's shots are a bit fuzzy.  I'm all juiced up again for tomorrow.

Many of NZ's walks will take you through privately owned farmland.  This encounter [RIGHT] is not unusual.  (We walked around her.)   
We did a little reorganizing of our packs when we got home.  Can you tell who owns which pile of clothes?  (Remember: one is packing for 2 weeks -  the other for 6.....)
We're scheduled for our tubing trip tomorrow.  More pictures to come!
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