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Published: October 7th 2014
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New Zealand is a backpacker’s paradise, or so they say. So, instead of taking the regular tourist route, I decided to go on the off beaten path to discover places in the country that weren’t frequently visited by tourists. However, I had to include the Waitomo Caves in my itinerary even though it was a popular tourist destination. The caves seemed to be too amazing to pass.
My adventure started in Auckland, north of New Zealand. The plan was to find my way down south where others claim to be even more marvelous.
The first agenda after arriving in Auckland was to find a car or campervan I could rent for the duration of my journey. Although hiking and public transportation seemed exciting, I decided that I would see much more during the time I had.
I ended up renting a campervan and headed to West Auckland, after spending a couple of days checking out the city. My first destination was
Crystal Mountain where I got to see a wide variety of crystals, mineral, and meteorites, some of which I didn’t even know existed. It was amazing to note that some weighed over a ton and stood at least
2 meters high.
Exploring Waihi
I then hopped back on State Highway One and headed for
Waihi, a town known for gold mining. I heard that there was an open pit gold mine, which sounded like an interesting place. Little did I know at the time exactly how interesting Waihi would be. Visiting the expansive gold mine was an adventure. It was still in operation so there were limited areas that could be visited. However, learning about the history of the mine and actually being there made the trip even more exciting.
After spending some time at the gold mine, I decided to explore
Karangahake Gorge and see some of the tunnels. The hike was excellent and in one of the tunnels, I had my first encounter with glowworms. Fortunately, I had brought a small flashlight with me, as the tunnels were dark.
The Glowworms of the Waitomo Caves
After spending a few days at Waihi, it was time for me to head to Waitomo and explore the caves. It was a pretty long drive from Waihi to Waitomo as I had to pass through Hamilton. From there, I headed to Otorohanga and then on to
the Waitomo Caves Road.
The write-ups of the caves I’ve seen don’t really do justice to the place. The
Waitomo glowworm caves are more magnificent then words can describe.
The tour consisted of a walk along a narrow tunnel and a boat ride. The chatter among the group I was with was understandable as the caves were really beautiful. However, the chatter turned into ooohs and aaahs once we got to the boat ride portion of the trip. The caves were lit up with millions of glowworms that apparently can only be found in New Zealand. The impressive natural lighting certainly did its job as the environment really became serene with the group mostly sitting still admiring the work of nature.
The tour only lasted for almost an hour, but I had to see more so I decided to check out the other caves: Ruakuri and Aranui.
Ruakuri Caves
I could tell that exploring Ruakuri would be an adventure from the very start. Before we could even reach the entrance to the cave, we had to walk down a spiral staircase. Walking down gave me the impression that this route was not for the claustrophobic.
After
Lake Gunn
The lake is within the boundary of the Fiordland National Park. reaching the bottom, we passed through the Drum entrance, a specially constructed tunnel that led to the actual caves. I couldn’t believe the diversity of the
Ruakuri caves. The walk was around an hour and a half through narrow corridors, over deep crevices, and over a river. We could even hear a waterfall in the distance, which made the walk even more impressive. I remember having a smile on my face as I once again met the famous Glowworms, or maybe the relatives of those in the other cave.
The Aranui Caves
After seeing the glowworm caves and the Ruakuri Caves, I had the impression that the Aranui caves wouldn’t be equally exciting. However, I was wrong. The
Aranui caves had plenty of mineral formations that the other caves seemed to lack.
What really caught my attention was the huge stalactites that are truly spectacular up close. Their different shades made them even more spectacular.
I also had my first encounter with the cave wetas, small creatures that used their long legs and antennae to find their way in the dark caves. The wetas were native to New Zealand and could only be found there. They do not like the light and won’t even go out of the caves when there is a full moon.
Wellington
After I had my fill of excitement from visiting the Waitomo Caves, I decided to continue my journey to the Southern parts of New Zealand.
I headed towards Wellington where I spent some time touring some of the most beautiful sites there. The museums were fantastic, especially the Museum of Wellington City & Sea which I learned was one of the top 50 museums in the world. The exhibitions were stunning as they showed a great deal of Wellington’s history.
I had to spend a lot more time in Wellington discovering some of the other places like Mount Victoria, and the bay.
South Island
My final leg of the trip turned out to be more exciting than I thought it would be. The south Island is the home to some of New Zealand’s most fascinating sceneries.
Fiordland, at the southern most tip of the Island was breathtaking. In fact, I was so amazed at the scenery that I not only hiked through the National Park, but also even took an air tour over the park. I also met some of the most wonderful people there. I even spent some time learning fly-fishing at one of the rivers.
New Zealand is a truly spectacular country and most of all; it is in fact the most backpacker friendly countries I’ve had the chance to visit.
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