Sweethaats and glowworms


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Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Waikato » Hamilton
November 16th 2005
Published: November 23rd 2005
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Spelunkers unite!Spelunkers unite!Spelunkers unite!

Do we look professional?
This afternoon we got to go underground and check out some caves. We got to Waitomo with about 15 minutes to spare - just enough time to hit the bathrooms and gawk at some geegaws before meeting our guide, Savitri.
We all loved Savitri. She was a young twentysomething Kiwi with a really charming demeanor. She had a habit of referring to the group as “sweethaats” and was very concerned about our welfare on the bumpy ride up through the hills on narrow unsealed roads that followed the ridge lines. “Ah ya quite heppy then, sweethaats?, she would call out, making sure none of us were carsick. None were. When someone mentioned how treacherous they thought these roads were, she replied, “Yeh, they don’t bother me, I grew up on roads like these”.
After a 25-minute ride over beautiful hills, we arrived at the valley where we’d be entering the cave. As we walked across the sheep paddock I mentioned how good the air smelled and Savitri replied “That’ll be the sheep poo”. We all got fashionable safety helmets with lights on them and then it was single file into the cave. Savitri shone her large torch (flashlight) on a group
Sticky threadsSticky threadsSticky threads

Savitri shows us the latest in glowworm fashions.
of glowworms on an outcropping and explained how their small lights fool other insects into thinking they are light coming from the surface, but when these insects fly upward to escape the cave they are ensnared in the sticky threads that dangle in the dark from each glowworm. Then the larval glowworm gets a nice meal.
The coolest part was floating off on a small raft into the darkness to see the glowworms in action. There were two sounds to be heard: the sound of a distant waterfall and the sounds of stalactites dripping into the river. As we rounded a bend, we faced a long corridor whose ceiling was covered with thousands of glowworms. There were so many that the whole area had a dull blue glow like pale moonlight. That, combined with the reflected lights of the glowworms on the river created an eerie and beautiful scene.
Savitri piloted us all the way down the corridor to the far end, as the sound of the waterfall grew louder and louder. She had explained that there was a 3-meter waterfall but that we wouldn’t be going over it. Due to the reverberations in the cavern, the waterfall sounded much larger than 3 meters!
That adventure finished, Savitri led us to a small shelter up the hill (in the midst of the sheep paddock, of course) where she served a “cuppa and bickies” for us (tea/coffee and biscuits aka cookies). Then it was a five minute walk to the next cave. The valley in which we walked was magnificent. Steep hills of brilliant green surrounded us, with large limestone boulders jutting out of them.
This cave had no river in it, so it had few glowworms (a river brings in fresh insects for the glowworms to eat). But this cave did have a fantastic series of caves and interesting features. We got to see several shafts to the surface, as well as the effect those shafts produce. Not only do they admit faint light to the caves, they also catch the occasional animal that falls to its death on the cave floor. On the cave floor were skeletons of a goat, a chicken, and even a moa! (a large, 9-10 ft. tall bird similar to an ostrich, which went extinct a few hundred years ago)
Then it was back over the hilltop road to town. We said our goodbyes and hopped in the car to head back up to Auckland. We stopped in Hamilton for a delicious dinner at Sohl, then hightailed it up to Auckland as the sun set. Just after darkness fell, the full moon rose low, large and orange in the east and accompanied us all the way to Auckland. Overnight at a hotel near the airport, for tomorrow we fly to Wellington and our last full day on the North Island!



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It burns!It burns!
It burns!

Back into the light of day
Shy moonShy moon
Shy moon

It followed us back to Auckland, trying to disguise itself behind clouds.


23rd November 2005

sweet hats?
I kept reading that as "Sweet Hats" You guys look a little sweet. :-)

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