Blogs from Waitomo Caves, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

A short detour from the beaten track led us to Waitomo which you cant say has a lot to do. However it is home to the Waitomo limestone water caves which must be there number one (and only) attraction. These caves are home to the glow worms which is apparently unique to NZ. A walk through these caves was magnificent viewing the glow worms in their natural state, and we took a boat ride and viewed them hanging from the roof of the cave lighting up the way for us. If you are feeling a little more adventurous the black water rafting comes highly recommended where you can glide through the narrow passes of the caves on a black tube and abseil down the waterfalls inside the caves. Definitely should be avoided if you are even ... read more

Day 74 was filled with yet more adrenalin as we made our way to the Waitomo Caves to see the famous glow-worms a little uncoventionally by black-water rafting!! Getting the gear on was a little tricky as we had not only a wet-suit but wet-shoes and jacket too not to mention some stunning gum boots and a hard hat!! We headed down to the caves where much to our horrow we were told to turn our head lights off to 'experience the cave'!! Fortunately we were allowed to switch them back on as we walked to the glow worms but then it was time to get wet!! With our little rubber rings our first task was to jump down a waterfall backwards with the ring on our bottoms!! Elin made the jump but unfortunately Becky had ... read more

Tuesday 19th October (pm): After leaving Tim and Sheena, we drove 3 and a half hours to Waitomo. We stayed at Waitomo Caves Guest House, which was essentially a group of garden sheds in the back garden. The owners were really nice and had gone to great lengths to think of everything. We got the last cabin available - single beds again (good job we're old and past it).The American guests here love this place as it is so twee - it had underbed heated blankets, magazines on how to do needlework, lace curtains and a pot of Colin's home made biscuits. Felt like I was staying in my Granny's potting shed, but I have to admit that the beds were soooo comfy so I had a good night's sleep. Wednesday 20th October: We got up ... read more

PART 2 WEDNESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2010 - WAITOMO TO ROTORUA Woke up really early for the drive to Waitomo where we were going on a caving expedition with the Black Water Rafting Co. First we stopped in the Kiwiana Town of Otorohanga.........Kiwis are very proud of their "Kiwiana" which consists of such exciting things like kiwifruits (actually from China) and Pavlova (they Aussies also lay claim to this), sheep (found widely around the world) and a little wooden toy that they are all crazy for (Prince Wills had one when he was a baby. Apparently.) called Buzzy Bee. Weird. Nuff said. Continued our drive through Kings Country until we arrived in Waitomo and promptly got handed our oh so flattering wetsuits and helmets before getting a crash course on abseiling - thats how we entered the ... read more

Waitomo is famous for it's caves and glowworms, but nothing else. I't been warned before going that there aren't any ATMs, but no one said that there is no shop! Luckily, the hostel sells bread by the slice and tins of beans, otherwise I would have starved! Once I managed to get to Waitomo (even more difficult to get to that Raglan) I booked onto one of the cave tours. I couldn't be bothered with doing one of the adventure caving/tubing/abseiling ones, so I booked onto a little old lady, walk and boat one. Turned out to be a really good decision! It was with quite a new company so they weren't that busy and we walked into a cave with headlamps and everything. We had to turn them off (obviously) to see the glowworms, and ... read more