Another sunny start to the day. Here are the pools we enjoyed (photographed on the way out):

We were sorry to leave this particularly nice campsite (http://www.waitomopark.co.nz) as it would have been fun to try out the cold pool and the trampoline and the many other facilities.

But we had booked three activities, eschewing the Black Water Rafting (like white water rafting but in total darkness! http://www.waitomo.com/black-water-rafting.aspx) in favour of the more sedate options, so set off after a good breakfast (black pudding now on the menu :-) )

First on the list was:

A lovely introduction to the caves of Waitomo with many stalagmites, stalagtites, pillars, etc.:

All nicely lit and no restrictions on photography as is so often the case in such places, so that you have to buy their postcards in order to get a picture to remember it by. The whole tour was much longer than we expected, but all at a gentle pace, and well commentated on by our guide.

Once finished, we had a bit of time to spare before the next underground adventure, so we set off on the Ruakuri Bushwalk, which was lovely. Dramatic views of waterfalls, fast flowing rivers and rain forest, from some nicely constructed walkways high above the forest floor:

Then back to wait for our guide to the next cave system:

While waiting, we studied some of the flora:

and fauna:

before our friendly guide Rich:

led us through a substantial steel door into a dimly lit tunnel with small multi-coloured lights illuminating just the floor as far as another door. This further door wouldn't open until the first door was closed and pressure differentials equalised. It opened onto another dimly lit chamber, but instead of going horizontally away from us, this chamber disappeared vertically in a dizzying drop of spiralling orange lights:

As our eyes accustomed to the low lighting levels, we could see that the chamber had a pathway winding down and round the walls of the cylindrical chamber at a gentle slope; easy enough that wheelchairs could even be used to descend the 60' depth to the start of the cave tour.

The cave itself was spectacular. Loads of weird and wonderful rock formations in all sorts of differing patterns:

There were delicate curtains:

But best of all was our first glimpses of the incredible glowworm displays:

These glowworms are mostly larvae (otherwise called maggots, but that didn't sound as good in the advertising) and illuminate the end of their tails to attract flying insects which come in through the river caves. Once an insect gets close enough, it gets ensnared in the sticky threads exuded by the larva:

And for the record, here's a photo of us deep underground:

A bit further on, we came out onto a platform suspended above the river that flows through the caves (and brings food to the glowworms). In addition to the noise of running water and distant waterfalls, we could hear various shrieks, oohs and aaahs from the intrepid black water rafters. In fact, 'raft' is a rather misleading term as they are all equipped with a personal tube, just the right size to sit in. Here's a group en-route to the caves:

As we stood on the platform in the dark, the group of unsuspecting rafters floated past us, unaware that we were there. The whole underground trip was surprisingly long, and the cave impressively fitted out with steel walkways suspended above the cave floor to minimise the impact on the environment.

On exiting, after our first coffee of the day, we then set off for the last of our trio of subterranean sorties. This one not only had another interesting and informative commentary, and a long underground walk, but culminated in a gentle boat ride down yet another river. This one also had glowworms, but where we'd previously seen maybe hundreds of them, here there were thousands. Some were close, many further away, covering, it seemed, almost every surface of the cave.

Sadly we weren't allowed to photograph or video in this cave, but realistically, it would have been all but impossible anyway from a moving boat (the previous glowworm photo required a four second exposure time).

All too soon, it finished and we left Waitomo for a relatively short drive to Hamilton.....

Practice night, 8 bells, but only 6 of them up and not many ringers due to absence. It was nice to ring again, but my last opportunity until I get back to Fairford!

This is the tower with Jeremy Burslem's brother whose grandson is also learning to ring. St Peter's Cathedral sounds very grand doesn't it, but only 8 bells with a heavier tenor than ours (St. Mary's Fairford). The web site (http://www.stpeterscathedral.nzl.org/bellringers.php) is good. They finished at 9 pm especially for me as they would otherwise have gone home at 8.30!

Here's Charlie waiting outside the cathedral in the motorhome:

Back to the campsite. A bit grim as it's very cold and not nearly as good as last night.

written by  Saros on May 20, 2009 from Hamilton, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
Send a Compliment

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It all sounds great fun.
Glad you seem to be loving it all.
And Bells too!
Love
Nick & Anna

written by  Nick on May 20, 2009

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Ok, it's not often that people appreciate the "beauty" of maggots. :-)

And you're right, I'm pretty sure using maggots instead of larvae would not have the desired results.

written by  James on May 21, 2009

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