Black Water Rafting

We've done it. Possibly the highlight of my trip so far, and something I've been looking forward to since a lovely STA lady told me about it waaaaaaaaaay back before we set off; Black Water Rafting!

Its nothing like white water rafting except the fact that you're in the water... instead its a mix of abseiling, caving and floating around on a small black rubber ring... ACE! We opted for the black abyss trip although it was a little more expensive.

The trip started out with an abseil into the cave; not quite what I was expecting from abseiling as there wasn't really anywhere to put your feet, instead you just slowly lowered yourself through the hole in the ground and down in to a massive cave about 30ft underground. Because I've never done anything like that (neither had most of the group) everyone began their trip feeling really good, specially those that were quite afraid of heights. Our 2 guides made everyone feel relaxed and confident about what they were doing, taking time to help anyone who needed it.

After the abseil down it was time to start making our way through the cave system, balancing precariously over metal walk ways (with nothing below them.. scary stuff!) before finally coming to a harness. The poor lass who went first was strapped in then we were all ordered to turn our lights out. As he was checking her harness was all connected properly he just pushed her off the side; she screamed, then there was a loud bang... and everyone was a little bit less confident about the caving!! As it turns out it was just another guide at the bottom of the zip line banging a rubber ring on the rocks... shit everyone up though, making everyone a little bit more nervous about the trip.

Next up was a huge leap into the water from a cliff into our rubber rings below; followed by a bit of paddling up through the caves looking at various rock formations, once we reached the end we were instructed to turn off our lamps for a gentle float back through the caves. Above were hundreds of glow worms making it look like a starry night sky, absolutely amazing (the dream was shattered a little after we were told that glow worms are basically maggots and its their shit that makes them glow... beautiful!!)!

After the gentle floating the adventure really began with with a slide down a waterfall,a danger wee (trying to go to the toilet under the ground while wearing a wetsuit is fu*king hard work!) an introduction to a resident Eel (Hello Cecil!) and some serious climbing up and around underground waterfalls. It was a wicked trip which finished at around 9 when we finally emerged from underground after 5 hours of exploring the underground caves. A nice little bonus at the end was presented to us... bagels and hot soup! It was very welcome after being in the freezing waters for so long!