Caving made my body snap... or Day 3

Today was super intense. We went caving up in Waitomo, which was equally sweet and painful. I went on the most difficult one, as it sounded like the most fun. We had to suit up in wetsuits, Wellington boots, helmets and harnesses.

Here's the top side of the cave... it's called Haggas Honking Holes:

The first thing we did was abseil/rappel 70 feet down into this cave. That was totally awesome. Then we trekked some more, which was okay, but the wetsuits really restrict your movement, way more than I expected. The next thing we had to abseil down was this waterfall, which was amazing. After that, you had to get down on your hands and knees and climb under this ledge by the fall, to a tunnel that took you to the next abseil. I think we did one or two more abseils, then started our assent. It was pretty easy at first, we had to scale a 25-foot wall, while harnessed, but that was the easy part, because it wasn’t too wet. And then my asthma decided to come out full force. It was great, I couldn’t breathe and I was trying to rock climb on wet and slippery rocks. Eventually we got out and got to take showers. Shower = nice. The worst part of the day was definitely realizing how beat up my extremities are. I’ve got bruises all over my arms and legs, and my hands resemble ground beef. It was definitely worth it. The bus ride back to the hostel was uneventful, I fell asleep a few times and I was rubbernecking like it was my job. We got back to the hostel around 6:30pm and I got to the shower as fast as possible. Which meant doom. My hands were completely on fire from all the cuts and such. Dinner was an hour later and now I’m trying to stave off sleep, but I’m failing.