Back on the North Island: Stalactites and Glowworms in Waitomo

Now we were back on the North Island. Wellington and the 'lower' half of the West Coast were already explored in the first days of our vacation, and in the east, much is still destroyed by the cyclone Gabriella that passed through in February. So, except for a (for our standards quite small) detour to the east coast to Castle Point, we drove north through the middle. The goal was the stalactite caves and glowworm caves of Waitomo, and since we always want to do everything, we had 5 cave visits in 2.5 days ahead of us.

We visited the first cave (Aranui Cave - a beautiful stalactite cave, but without glowworms) on the day of arrival. And since we had some time left after that, we took a little walk (Ruakuri Bush Walk) directly at the cave and then drove to a waterfall (Marokopa Falls) and a natural rock bridge (Mangapohue Natural Bridge) - both connected with short hikes. Both destinations were actually closed due to storm damage, but we got close enough to see them.

The first full day was dedicated to 'Black Water Rafting'. In this activity, you crawl - equipped with a wetsuit, helmet, and tube - through a cave with a stream, occasionally jump down a waterfall, and just let yourself drift to see the glowworms on the ceiling ... all in freezing cold water. We did this 26 years ago (so basically recently), but we are still young, fit, and agile ...

Since we had already completed all the freely accessible highlights in the surrounding area yesterday, we still needed an idea for the afternoon. Finally, we went back to Elephant Rock and the Three Sisters - rock formations on the west coast, 120 km from Waitomo. This time - we were already there pretty early in our New Zealand trip - the tide was at least appropriate, we could walk up to the rocks, and we were only half rained on.

After our return - it was already dark - we walked a part of the Ruakuri Bush Walk again, because there are glowworms along the way. And indeed, there were plenty of them, along with a very beautiful starry sky.

On day 2, the rest had to be taken care of: The Ruakuri Cave contains beautiful stalactites, as well as quite a few glowworms. The 'Waitomo Glowworm Cave' has been the most famous of the caves here for over 130 years, but from our point of view, not the most beautiful. It scores with a boat ride under the glowworms, but has only a few stalactites and suffers from the masses of people that are being pushed through here. After a lunch break, we then visited the Spellbound Cave. This one has the most and densest glowworms and you can get really close to them. In addition, you have more time to look at them, and you are allowed to take your own photos. Here, too, there is a - significantly longer - boat ride under the glowworms. There is also a second part of the cave, which was not sooo great, but the glowworm section here was absolutely impressive.

We didn't need an afternoon or evening program on this day anymore - rain and thunderstorms invited us to stay at the accommodation.