Blogs from Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

We started the day by driving from Rotorua to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, but not before deciding to squeeze in another Hobbit filming location tour in the early afternoon. We started with the Glowworm caves (unfortunately, they don't allow photography), grabbed a quick bite for lunch, and then drove just under an hour to near Piopio for a 1pm tour. We then raced back in time to explore the Ruakuri cave at 4pm. It made for a busy day, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.... read more

Bay of Islands to Auckland Left Paihia after a pleasant few days, we are back for one day only on March 7th so hope to do the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi. Before leaving we stopped at the Hurura Falls, we had rowed to these in a Maori war canoe a couple of years ago. Anyway, onward down the West coast of Northland first of traversing the spine of the Northland passing through some spectacular scenery and the townships of Kaikohe, Taheke, Waima before coming upon Opononi with more scenery of huge sand dunes that surround Hokianga Harbour, the fourth biggest in the country. This area remains underdeveloped, just how the locals like it. But for how long!!! From here it's a drive down through the Waipoua and Kauri forests, the forests boast some of the largest ... read more

Pot proti Aucklandu sva zjutraj v New Plymouthu začela z vzponom na znamenito skalo Paritutu. Jasno jutro je poskrbelo za čudovit razgled na morje in mesto, v daljavi pa je kraljevala gora Egmont. Ker naju je čakala kar dolga vožnja proti Aucklandu, sva kar hitro odrinila na pot. Med potjo proti Hamiltonu, ki sva ga že obiskala, sva se ustavila v kraju Waitomo, ki je znan po svojih jamah. V njih živijo svetleči hroščki (Arachnocampa luminosa), ki jim po krivici pravijo "glow worms" (svetleči črvi), saj v resnici spadajo med žuželke in so sorodniki kresničk. V Waitomu sva si ogledala eno izmed jam, v katerih živijo in ki se raztezajo vse do morja. Skozi jamo smo se podali oblečeni v neopren in z gumijastimi obroči, saj smo večino poti preplavali po podzemni reki. Med potjo smo ... read more

Our time in New Zealand had to come to an end. From the Rotarua area we headed back to Auckland but had time for one more stop. A few kiwis had told us how great the Glowworm Caves in Waitomo are so we decided we'd stop there for an evening and see the caves the next day. We pulled up at a tiny campsite and went to check in. Oddly, we found that there were no staff. The whole place was run on an honesty box system. We had anticipated being able to pay by credit card but we just managed to scrape together the right cash. The facilities at the site were extremely basic and the outdoor tables were falling apart. It would do for an evening though. We set up the tent, heated dinner ... read more

This was one of the coolest things I've ever done and probably the second biggest adrenaline rush I've had in my life after skydiving. It's pretty hard to explain and telling you about it or seeing photos of it won't do it justice, but I'll try. It was a 5 hour trip and started with abseiling down a 35m vertical drop through a tiny hole in the cave. You are literally hanging there, repelling slowly and the only thing saving you from free falling is the friction in the rope that you're holding. The hole we had to repel through was so small I barely squeezed through. So scary. We got into the cave, stumbled through the rocks, then got to a zip lining spot. They made us turn our headlights off and we did the ... read more