On Monday we picked up our hire car, after getting some truly hideous passport photos for visas, and set off on our journey of the North Island. Owing to the fact that Louise does not have a driving license I was the driver and she was the navigator and sat-nav supreme. We managed to get to our destination, Waitomo Caves, without getting too lost but we did have some 'route re-calculating' to do along the way.
Waitomo is Maori, wai meaning water and tomo meaning caves. The Caves are natural formations and there are three different major caves open to the public for guided tours or you can join one of the many companies offering abseiling, caving or tubing trips. Unfortunately we did not have the time or money for this and chose to have a tour of two of the caves instead; the limestone one and the highly anticipated Glowworm Cave.
The first tour through the Limestone Cave gave us the opportunity to see many amazing limestone features such as stalactites and stalagmites.
This formation is called the Two Elderly Women because it looks like hunched figures draped in shawls.
An earthquake caused the collapse of some of the cave whichever can be seen behind us. There are two rocks lit up in the background which look like two men standing amongst the rubble.
Lastly, this formation is named The Witch.
The next underground world to discover was the famous Glowworm Caves. Once again the cave formations were fantastic and extremely beautiful. The highlight about this cave was the magnificent glowworms. To see them properly we all clambered into a boat and the guide steered us around an underground lake in the cave by pulling a system of ropes. It was extremely peaceful and magical and we stopped in a pitch black tunnel admiring the glowworms which looked like stars upon a night sky.
We were not allowed to take photos in the caves because Glowworms are sensitive to light and noise, so we had to be quiet too; something I'm not overly good at. However, I have found this wonderful promotional photo on the 100% Pure New Zealand Facebook page, so I cannot take any credit for it. The picture gives you an idea of the magnificent sight Louise and I were privileged to see throughout the cave.
Glowworms are interesting creatures. They glow to attract prey which they catch in web-like spindles they hang from the cave roof, as seen in the photo above. It looks like thousands of extremely thin icicles hanging from the ceiling, all lit up by a faint blue glow. Once the glowworms develop from the larval stage they have a pretty grim existence. They mature into flies that haven't evolved a mouth and therefore they starve to death after a day.
After our cave adventuring Louise, Edward (the car, named because of the registration starting EDW) and I set off to Matamata, around an hour away. We had booked a room in a basic hotel but were looking forward to having a room to ourselves with an ensuite bathroom and no bunk beds. Luxury. To top it off we had a wonderful dinner in the pub downstairs and not some concoction we had made ourselves.
Yet again it was another great Monday in the life of a traveller.
Until next time.
A x
No comments:
Post a Comment