Left Lane, Left Lane, Left Lane!!

Picked up our rental car today, The Chariot, and got our first taste of driving on the left side of the road. It definitely makes driving more interesting. Oddly, though, it was harder getting used to shifting with my left hand and signaling with the right hand that was more akward than simply driving on the left side. Have to admit, though, I did pull out into the right lane once dodged back into the left after seeing an oncoming car....that and Nicole screaming,"Left lane, left lane, left lane."



Our first destination was Waitomo for The Legendary Black Water rafting. It was suppoesd to be three hours of caving, tubing, and rappelling, but the river flooded the caves out. We're staying in the area tonight, though, so hopefully we'll have a chance tommorrow. The cancelled caving allowed us to see some of the less populated areas and we spent the afternoon driving to the coastal town of Marokopa while stopping at various trails along the way.

The trails were impresively well maintained considering we appeared to be the only people stopping - or even on the road for that matter. We stopped at Mangapohue Natural Bridge, Piripiri Caves, and Marokopa Falls. Each stop had about a 10 or 15 minute hike and some amazing scenery. It's hard to belive that these were just minor attractions. The entire area reminded me of Hobbiton - incredibly lush green fields full of quiet streams and hundreds of sheep.