An all day rain with storms made the decision to stay in Waitomo for the day. This was a perfect spot because the town was really small and the town's claim to fame are Glow Worms! The land around the town is volcanic with limestone rocks. You can see rocks pushing up from fault lines. The rainwater then eats the limestone below creating a sink hole that reveals a cave below. The farmers here are wealthy because companies pay them a royalty to bring tourists to see the caves. Inside some of the cave are glow worms. Our tour, Spellbound, took us to an underground river. We followed the river to a cave and saw fresh water eels swimming around. The largest one was 3 feet! The cave turned dark the farther we went inside. We climbed into a raft and our guide moved through the eel filled water until the ceiling began to light like the night sky. As our eyes adjusted we could see the reflection of the glowworms on the river surface. I was afraid this would be a waste of money and a tourist trap, but it wasn't. The little green and blue lights were mesmerizing. I was surprised that we could take photos. Shadows camera took some awesome ones. Below you will see some of mine, but they are not very good.
April 22nd-
With a much need attitude adjustment we left the land of the caves and spent the day walking roads. A paved road turned into a gravel road, which ended at a farm. From there we followed a dirt (mud in our case) farm road to a grass field where we picked up a cow track. The cow track lead to another dirt farm road and so on. The landscape was beautiful. Rolling hills and visible rock fault lines with native trees. We found a flat spot as the sun set and finished dinner 5 seconds before the rain came down. It was a great day. We just need to learn to adapt. Just because we aren't on the road doesn't mean we aren't hiking.
Our cave entrance
Glowworm webs
Glowworms!
Glowworms!
Sinkhole from below
Lunch spot
Farm Track
Bush Trail
Country Mouse and Shadow
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