Blogs from Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

I left Auckland early in the morning and from Ignacio's house I took a train to Britomart Station. I had spent two more days in Auckland than initially intended and I needed to break the inertia and get going. I got just in time to board the bus that would get me to Waitomo. I bought a bus pass, valid for 5 rides, from the "Naked Bus" company. I had to change buses in Hamilton and arrived at around noon in Waitomo. The main attraction of Waitomo are the "glowworm caves". This is just a fancy name for larvae that glow in the dark. I had heard it was worth a visit and these larvae are endemic to New Zealand and Australia, so I decided to check it out. For more information on these "bugs", wikipedia ... read more

we left New Plymouth after a delicious breakfast of fresh fruits ( even rhubarb!), yoghurt and croissants and drove North, first along the coast road and then inland to Waitomo. not much to see on,the way.we checked into the guest lodge which is ok and not much else and then took the very expensive two cave tour. there seems to be a labyrinth of caves and rivers under the hill in this area, it almost looks like Tuscany from above and stalagtites and stalagmites underground with the amazing addition of light produced by hundreds of thousands of glowworms that stick to the rooves of the caves searching for prey. we travelled along the underground waterway in a rubber dinghy in the dark...unusual to say the least!... read more

Stayed in Auckland by beach again. Got chatting to a lecturer in Maori History, learnt a lot abouth the culture. Supposed to have been volunteering today but it all went a bit wrong. Long story. Went to Hamilton and Pirongia instead, and took a walk through Pirongia Forest Park. Using a very dodgy PC and taking an age to type this so will sign off for now. Staying at Otorohanga tonight. Got a tour booked for Waitomo Caves tonight.... read more

Afgelopen twee dagen was ik in Waitomo, een plaats die bekend staat om zijn grotten. Een van de attracties was de zogenaamde 'Black Abyss', een vijf-uur durend ondergronds avontuur. Hier kon ik uiteraard niet omheen, dus daar heb ik mijn weekend omheen gepland. Vrijdag ben ik in Waitomo aangekomen met de bus, en na wat spullen gedumpt te hebben bij het hostel waar ik zou overnachten ben ik richting de Waitomo Glowworm Caves gelopen. Dit zijn de grotten die Waitomo op de kaart geplaatst hebben, de aanwezige glowworms zijn namelijk zeer uniek! Ze bieden allerlei tours aan door de plaatselijke grotten, en overal zul je wel een paar glowwormpjes tegenkomen. Ik heb twee tours gevolgd door de grotten, een door de Waitomo Glowworm Caves en een door Ruakuri. Tijdens de Glowworm Caves tour vertelde een gids ... read more

Today, bright and early, I headed off for a two hour drive to Waitomo, home of the legendary caves and gloworms. Very excited - first bit of adventure in a while and the first time I've been caving. Not looking forward to the wetsuit - however seeing as I'll be white water rafting tomorrow as well, I'd better get used to it. First things first - we're greeted by Aaron, a Kiwi of supreme dry humour, and Terry, who looks like Sportacus from Lazy Town (or for anyone local to Burnham/Highbridge - Steve Wills). There were 12 or so I guess of us, all not really knowing what we were about to do, other than get in a cave and see gloworms. We're equipped with wetsuits, booties, crash helmets with headlamps and jackets, for which these ... read more