Hamilton and the under earth!

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Not many pictures of the fun we had around Hamilton, and specially the day spent at the Waitamo caves. Funny, it's the first full hot sunny day around, and we are spending hours well under in the dark!



We are staying at the Ibis in Hamilton. Nothing to write about the place, expect that we are bang in the center of Hamilton. The city is way bigger than little Rotorua and fell a more fun place to live. At least there is a decent choice of bars and restaurants around the city. We actually did not spent much of our time in Hamilton during the day. It was rather an hour South...under earth at the Waitamo caves.



The Waitamo caves are very well known for their glow worms. If you keep silent, and with no lights, the worms glow to attract their food. I have to admit, it's pretty surreal!



In the morning, we took the lazy visit. We spent first some time walking the caves on a guide tour by a local. The cathedral chamber cave is a pretty amazing site...specially when a local school group start to sing Maori songs. Just for those songs I will not forget this visit. Next, you board a boat going in total dark through the river. The roof is covered with glow worms. Sadly, some of the Asian visitors did not understand that this experience is way more impressive in a deep silent. One day they may understand!



It is actually a good idea that no camera is allowed in the caves. At least nobody is trying to ruin the experience for the other visitors. I guess it would be impossible to take a decent picture of the experience on a moving boat. So here it is, the picture you see is a postcard. The boat is actually in the complete darkness....to enjoy properly the worms. Note, we didn't taste any of them!



We had another fast lunch of pies. We love the pies in the region. An hour after exiting the first cave...we were in for a fun afternoon. They call this black rafting. We were a group of less than 10 guests, with three nice young staffs to take care of us. This is not really rafting, but rather tubing! We were geared in proper 5mm wetsuits and fitting helmets. On the bus we went. First picks are the practice jumps. We would end up doing two of those in complete darkness if it is not for our head torches. That was fun! The practice jump was a pretty good idea, you don't want to hit anything else than cold water once in the cave!



Water is slightly cold, but we stay just below two hours down there, so the excitement keeps you from being too chilled. The "course" is simply beautiful. We had some part in complete dark to enjoy few more glow worms. There are slides, jumps...the all lot. We basically followed the river all the way through the caves.



Here too no pictures, so we did indulge and bought the pictures offered by the organization. The experience is far away from being cheap, but this is clearly a highlight of visiting the North Island. I'm just wandering how backpackers can cope with the current price levels in New Zealand?!?



Next, we were on our way to Auckland airport for our flight north! Yes, it's bye New Zealand for now, but we will be back soon!

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