Diary - day 4

***this is the Maori pa site that lay before us.
We wake up once again to the drowsy blast of the horn. Breakfast is good old spaghetti and we all feel surprisingly calm. We slowly pack our gear and set off over the rocky ditch below and over to the functional looking Maori pa site. We all steadily but slowly cross the ditch and travel up to a weak bridge lying before the gate. We cross slowly and absentmindedly. We all may be a lot fitter but we were sweating and exhausted anyway. We enter suspiciously. ***. We peer into the nearest tent and see some sort of stick. I absentmindedly pick it up and strong feeling of power overcame me and I unstably staggered backwards, still holding the…er, staff. Annmaree and Emma steadied me. We were confronted, in tent two, by piles of kumara, we were all stoked and shoved it all into our packs and weighed down with every thing, went on to the next tent. We leaned into the airy tent and in the center of the tent lay a backpack, woven with strong green flax. We all piled into the tent and happily placed the kumara into the care of the new pack and out of our own. As we put it all in, it seemed as if there was always room for more. Puzzled but pleased, we put the last of the kumara in and smugly rolled out of the tent. The pack was happily plonked on my back and it was unusually but extremely light considering the amount of kumara in it. We plodded over to the last and largest tent. We waltzed on into a room with Maori carvings covering any sign of walls or a ceiling for that matter but the thing that caught all of our eyes was two strong, bold, Maori carvings. They were in this position:
Annmaree aimlessly stumbled over to the strangely welcoming carvings and placed her shaken hand onto the oddly loose shape that was held possessively in the first carvings hand.
She clasped her fingers around it and yanked it free.
We regrouped and trotted over to pit on and peered in suspiciously. Suddenly I ripped myself away in agony and confusion. It is as if my whole world was turned upside down and then.........
.......unconsciousness.
I felt a sharp tingle of pain shoot up my arm and ripple through my body. I woke to four pairs of eyes lying on my face and Emma’s staff was placed on my arm. We got up and, after much persuasion, and carried on and examined the pit once again.
We unpacked two of our ropes and Emma and Monica were lowered into deep darkness, guided with worn foot holes in the wall and a dim torch.
Kelsey, Annmaree and I settled down and examined annmarees...object.
We heard a sharp shout and we scuttled over to pit hole number two and saw shadows of the others as they passed the opening.
Hours pass.
We worry.
We decide to go and find them. After much chaos through the complicated tunnels we found Emma and Monica in a shivering heap, sobbing violently. The tracks we left got followed backwards until it wore out, then we just followed the never-ending tunnel mindlessly.
Light sparked as the end came into sight, and we switched back into reality and broke into a run. We collapsed in the shelter of the cave and slept under the watchful eyes of a secretive, unknown creature.
Man it takes a long time to type that up!!