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Published: February 20th 2013
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 will sort it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnocampa.
There are a lot of different tour operators that offer from simple walks into the caves, to abseiling (going down a cave with a rope and harness), black water rafting, etc., so it's hard to choose something. Fortunately, the visitor's center in the town is really good. I opted for a night abseil to the
caves with a small family-run company. I wanted a tour in which I could take photos myself (most operators won't let you) and so the people in the visitor's center recommended "Cave World", which actually let you take your cameras (
http://www.caveworld.co.nz/). They don't actually advertise the night abseil too much because they only take 2 people at a time with a guide. That was perfect, because I was the only one booked for that day, so I had a personalized tour.
It was about 1pm and I had sorted out the cave tour (which started at 8pm), so now I needed to look for accommodation. I tried a packpacker hostel which I heard was really good (Kiwipaka), but it was fully booked. My other alternative was a YHA Hostel, but it was 1,5km from the town center, so I opted for a more expensive alternative and found a room in a B&B, the "Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge", right by the information center, which was run by an old couple, Colin and Jane, who were very good hosts. I had a good room with a double bed and ensuite bathroom.
After settling in I went
for a few short walks around the area. The first one was the Opapaka Pā Walk, which is only about 1km away from the town center. It goes up a hill in which the Ngati Hia tribe used to store supplies in ditches. It was also a light fortified place and a battle took place between them and the Tanetinorau tribe in the 1700's. There isn't much left of the place and the landscape from the hill is mostly farmlands. The path up the hill goes through bush which is really nice.
from there, I walked back to the town and then past it; to the glowworm caves area. There's another walk that's called "Ruakuri Caves and scenic bush reserve". I walked up the road to get there and then did the walk in about 40 minutes. The main attraction is an open cave. I went back to Waitomo through the "Waitomo Walkway", which follows a path through mainly farmlands, which was quite nice as well. About 3 hours had gone by since I left and then I had time to relax and grab something to eat before doing the cave tour.
At 8pm sharp the
guide, Robin arrived to pick me up at the office. He's part of the family that runs the company. We drove about 5 minutes to the property. As he explained, that piece of land had been in his family for about 150 years and the cave belonged to them, as it was in their land. He gave me overalls, boots, a harness and a helmet with a light. After a short explanation, we walked over to the top entrance of the cave. I had taken my 3 cameras: a gopro, an SLR and a small compact camera and Robin had no problems helping me carry that stuff down while abseiling. When we got to the entrance, we got geared up and started the 50mtr descent. We still had some daylight, so the glowworms (which were all around the cave), were just beginning to show. We may have taken abot 10 minutes for the descent, taking videos and photos on the way down. At the bottom, more photos and then we had to climb up a series of ladders to get up again and do the second descent.
In the meantime, Robin and I had plenty of time to talk
about each other's jobs, etc. He was interested in diving, so I had plenty of time to talk about that too. For the second descent, it was fully dark and the glowworms were stunning. It was like watching millions of LEDs surrouding the caves. The worms glow to attract other insects and feed on them. They build up to 70 strands covered in mucus, that work much like a spiderweb. With the cave completely dark, it's like watching a sky full of stars. In this descent, I didn't really take photos and just enjoyed the view.
On the way up, I took some time to shoot long exposure photos and finally got one that I really liked. The whole thing took about 2 hours and it was well worth the money, especially considering the fact that I was the only tourist.
My next destination was the Tongariro National Park. I went to have breakfast in the morning at around 8:30 (continental breakfast included in the B&B) and as I was finishing, I overheard a couple that were talking to the owner and that they were heading to Tongariro. I was planning to hitchhike that day and
it was raining mildly, so I didn't pass on the opportunity to ask them if they could give me a ride. They agreed and we left after an hour. They were an American couple from Boston on their honeymoon, traveling for a few months. It took us a few hours to get to a town called Whakapapa, in Tongariro National Park, which during the winter functions as a small skiing town.
The park is renowned for the "Tonagriro Crossing", a 20km walk which is considered "the best day walk in NZ". There are a few huts that can be used if people want to sleep overnight and do longer walks (it's cheaper to book them in advance). The first thing I did was go to the visitor information center, ask about the walk and then find out about accommodation.
I ended up staying at the "Skotel", an alpine hotel that has a backpacker wing as well. I got a single room for 35NZD, which was a pretty good deal. The backpacker wing was almost empty, so I had almost the whole place to myself.
The Tongariro Crossing was closed at some point, because
of recent volcanic activity, so at the moment it's just a back and forth walk that could only be accessed by shuttle buses which left the town at 7, 8 and 9am and did return trips at 3, 4 and 5pm. It was too late to go at that time, so I had to wait until the next day to do the crossing. And then another day to catch the "naked bus" to Wellington.
I checked in in the hostel and I decided to do one of the 3 walks that can be done from the town. I chose to do the "Taranaki Falls" walk, which was supposed to be a 2 hour walk (return), but also had the option to go to the Tama Lake, which was a further 5 hour walk (return) more less. The walk started right outside "Skotel" and it only took me about 30 minutes to get to the falls. As it was summer, the water flow wasn't very high, so they weren't that impresive, but the landscapes on the way were quite nice. As it had taken me half the time to get there, I decided to press on to the
Tama Lakes. It took me maybe an hour to get there and it was definitely worth it. Even though there's been a draught this summer and the Lower Tama Lake could be seen partially dry, it was a spectacular view from there. I had the option to go back, or do the last walk uphill to get to the Upper Tama Lake. And so I did, of course. And the view was even more spectacular. It was a good first day for trekking (or tramping as it's known in NZ) and I was hoping not to be too tired for the next day.
In total, I must've taken just under 4 hours to do the whole walk, which I think was done at a pretty good pace. In the evening I had a very artificial meal of instant soup, instant noodles and cheese sandwiches.
The Tongariro trail. This one had been recommended by lots of people, so my expectations were high. I chose to go on the 7am bus. I figured that if the walk didn't take long, I could take the 3pm bus and just have a chilled out afternoon in the hostel. But if
there were other walks, it'd give me the chance to make the most out of the day.
It was a short 15-20 minute ride from the town to the bus stop at the start of the trail. There, I learned that indeed there were a few other alternatives to only doing the normal walk. Along the way, I could go to the top of the Ngauruhoe (2287mts), an active volcano with a pretty steep gradient and which mostly has loose rocks and gravel (which made the climb even all the more appealing). The other was to go up Mt. Tongariro (1967mts), which was a regular walk up a path. The normal trail ends in a place called "The Esmerald Lakes", which can be seen from the top of a hill. I decided to do all of them before the end of the day.
The walk up to the base of Mt. Ngauruhoe took about 1 1/4 hours and to climb up and down, it was estimated in 3 hours. Indeed it was challenging, going up using both feet and hands on the loose gravel and watching for the odd rock rolling down caused by the people
that were further up. But it was well worth it; the views from up there were stunning and before I went back down, I walked along the rim of the crater, saw steam coming out of the rocks and had a short power nap and something to eat.
The walk down was also challenging, mainly because of the steep gradient and I had to use an alternative route to get down, to avoid rolling rocks on the people that were going up. I must've slipped and fell maybe about a dozen times on the way down.
Back in the base, I headed to Mt. Tongariro. This one was much easier and after getting to the summit, I went over to check out the Esmerald Lakes, which were quite spectacular and the photos speak for themselves.
I made it back just in time for the 4pm bus. The rest of the afternoon, I just chilled in the hostel. Same thing the next morning and then I took a bus to Wellington.
I arrived in Wellington past 8pm and then walked from Bunny St. to the backpacker hostel (Trek Global). After leaving my stuff there, I
went out for a walk and reacquaint myself with the city (I had been there more than 10 years ago). I got something to eat and then I just went back to the hostel; I was too tired to go out.
In the morning, I grabbed my camera, went for a short walk and then back to the hostel.
I was invited to a barbecue for lunch, to John Lawson's house. He's a good friend of Robert Hacking, with whom I had stayed in Auckland and so he made the introduction. John picked me up from the hostel and we went to his house. There, I met his wife Aideen and their 4 daughters; Moya, Gabrielle, Aisling and Francesca. They're both lawyers and at the moment Aideen is working and John is in a new stage in his life as a stay at home dad.
That day they also had a few of Aideen's work colleagues. We had a very pleasant afternoon, the weather was excellent and had plenty of food and beers. I stayed until late (7pm or so) and then I felt like walking back to the hostel (about 1 hour walk), so
John walked me down the hill with Aisling and Francesca and their dog Paddy. John invited me to go fishing the next day and to watch a clay shooting competition.
That evening I was contacted by a Colombian girl through the CS website and I met her and a friend of hers at around 9pm in a place called "Cuba Mall". We moved around a few different places and ended up in a karaoke bar. After about an hour there, I was getting bored, so I went to get something to eat and then back to the hostel. I had to be up before 6am to go fishing anyway.
In the morning, at 6am sharp, John picked me up, we went to his house, had breakfast and then we were picked up by one of his friends, Tom and we headed out to the Hutt River to go fly fishing. On the way, we met with another friend of theirs, Phil. Tom is the general manager for a ferry company that does the crossing between the two islands, and Phil's an electrician who has his own business. These guys all know each ther because
they have kids in the same school and they had just started to get into fly fishing. I was lent a normal fishing rod and off we went. We spent about 3 hours in two different spots, but none of us caught anything. Phil was competing in the clay shooting competition, so the 4 of us went to see it. I personally had never been in this kind of competitions before, so it was a totally new experience. After Phil was done shooting, he let us have a few shooting rounds ourselves. It's a lot more difficult than it seems and I didn't hit any targets. At least I got to shoot a shotgun.
It was then time for me to get my bags and then John dropped me at the ferry terminal, to cross over ot the South Island on the 2:30pm ferry.
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Mar Moreno
non-member comment
What an excellent way to spend your time on these wonderful trips!
God bless you, dear Daniel! I am an avid reader of your voyages, I hope that I have contributed with my tips and ideas. I am glad that you visited the caves with the glowing worms, it's a must in that area. It makes me happy to read that you are having a great time. By the way, did you notice how beautiful is the English spoken in New Zealand? My favourite. Continue having a wonderful time and in the meantime, I say "chao" to you because I am heading towards the hospital now. Fondly Cousin Marcela