Day 330 (Sat 2 June) - Waitomo Caves
Got up to an overcast sky. Seemed to be little point in going to see Mount Egmont as too cloudy so drove onto Waitomo.
Waimtomo is a pleasant village or small town and our campsite is right in the middle of it.
Went to tourist info and booked ourselves onto a tour leaving at 3pm that afternoon.
We both mooched about as the weather turned rainy. Even watched a local rugby match being played alongside the camp site.
At 3pm we went back to tourist info to meet up with our tourguide, Pete. Really nice chap.
Set off on a windy road, Pete explaining the geological features of the surrounding area as we went. Soon disembarked and made our way into a winding set of tunnels.
These tunnels were illuminated by small lights. At one point during the tour he switched off the lights to get a feel for how dark it was. To say it was pitch black would be an understatement. Very disorientating!
Also in this cave system were glowworms. Although the pretty dark it was too difficult to see the glowworms lights. However, it was a great place to see the sticky threads that the glowworms exude in order to catch their prey.
From this set of caves we set off to a cave system that had the glow worms in abundance. Just before we entered the caves Pete suggested we try and feed the eel. A small stream fed into the caves and into this he dangled a small piece of meat. Soon enough a massive eel appeared and pushing itself vertically up and out of the water gratefully grabbed at the titbit.
The caves are fed by the stream so the only way of really seeing the glowworms is to board a small dinghy. Once onboard Pete gently moved us round the cave system by hauling on overhead ropes.
The caves and the glowworms were simply beautiful. Really felt like you were floating in space.
Spent loads of time oohing and ahhing. Sarb tried to get some photos but needless to say it was pretty difficult. Luckily Pete gave us permission to use his ( [1], [2] ) if we gave him a plug. So here's the plug Spellbound.
Brilliant afternoon that was topped off by cooking an ace curry!
Waimtomo is a pleasant village or small town and our campsite is right in the middle of it.
Went to tourist info and booked ourselves onto a tour leaving at 3pm that afternoon.
We both mooched about as the weather turned rainy. Even watched a local rugby match being played alongside the camp site.
At 3pm we went back to tourist info to meet up with our tourguide, Pete. Really nice chap.
Set off on a windy road, Pete explaining the geological features of the surrounding area as we went. Soon disembarked and made our way into a winding set of tunnels.
These tunnels were illuminated by small lights. At one point during the tour he switched off the lights to get a feel for how dark it was. To say it was pitch black would be an understatement. Very disorientating!
Also in this cave system were glowworms. Although the pretty dark it was too difficult to see the glowworms lights. However, it was a great place to see the sticky threads that the glowworms exude in order to catch their prey.
From this set of caves we set off to a cave system that had the glow worms in abundance. Just before we entered the caves Pete suggested we try and feed the eel. A small stream fed into the caves and into this he dangled a small piece of meat. Soon enough a massive eel appeared and pushing itself vertically up and out of the water gratefully grabbed at the titbit.
The caves are fed by the stream so the only way of really seeing the glowworms is to board a small dinghy. Once onboard Pete gently moved us round the cave system by hauling on overhead ropes.
The caves and the glowworms were simply beautiful. Really felt like you were floating in space.
Spent loads of time oohing and ahhing. Sarb tried to get some photos but needless to say it was pretty difficult. Luckily Pete gave us permission to use his ( [1], [2] ) if we gave him a plug. So here's the plug Spellbound.
Brilliant afternoon that was topped off by cooking an ace curry!
posted by Jo and Sarb at
6/02/2007 01:06:00 am
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