About 170kms south west is Waitomo Caves our next major stop. Here we took a 5 hour caving tour of the famous glow worm caves. "Rap Raft and Cave" is the company which was the cheapest and most value for money at $125. The others are above this by quite a bit.
We started off with an abseil 27meters down into the caves. We took a walk through the caves while seeing the endless amount of hanging glow-worms.
It was like walking in the dead night with millions of bright twinkling stars lighting the way thru the caves. It was cold, water was freezing, but you are so stunned by the view that you notice nothing. This is something very unique to NZ and some parts of Australia. These should be a wonder of the world!
They live in the caves for about 9-12 months in total. They hang off the rooftops of the caves living a hamock for a home. Around the hamock they weave strigs of hanging webs that look like little crystals hanging. They shimmer as you shine the light. These they use to trap food just like spiders.
They glow because they use it to attactract the insects for food. Basically they excrete a gas called Lucy Ferrin that when it mixes with Oxygen and ATP in the air this causes the glowing. In sum the pretty maggots fart all day long and that is why they glow! haha
After some learning we met the local eel called Jeffy that really does know our guide! A bright green frog and some spiders!
We went toobing (sittig in a rubber tire) to the cave currents thru the caves for a bit, before having to do some real caving and climbing in the cave. The caving involved squeezing into little holes that you normally would not even try! However it was fun although very wet.
To get out of the caves we have to climb back up the 27m of sheer so steep cave! It was practically straight up only it had some foot holes! However I was pretty brave since I was attached by rope to the guide. Lucky I didn't need the rope - I climbed like a champ... I doubt I would've been so brave without the rope though hehehe...
After this we were actually treated to a shower! Since we are roadtripping by campervan showers are few and perhaps far between hehe... but we got a hot shower and some soup! YIPPEE!
Ciao for now!
