orienteering (Waitarere Forest) 31:55 [3]
shoes: Asics Trabuco
We overnighted at Waitomo so we could go to the glowworm caves first thing - enchanting rather than spectacular, and not as extensive a ride on the underground river as at Te Anau, but dry caves which were reminiscent of Smaug's lair made up for this. Passed through the National Park region and admired snow on Ruapehu, fog on Ngaurahoe, then a long winding descent to Wanganui (I drive because I am not a good passenger) and eventually to our beach house at Waitarere, where we will be until Monday morning. Fern & Tyson were already there and had negotiated with some UK orienteers to give us their map after they had finished training with it in the pine forest which was literally next door, so I went for a run on a sprint course from earlier this year. It's magical forest, straight out of Lord Of The Rings.
