This last weekend I took a bus out to visit the Waitomo Caves. Even before I came to New Zealand I had heard that this was a must see spot in the Waikato region. Since it was only an hour bus ride from Hamilton, I decided to take the trip.
The cave complex at Waitomo is extensive and includes both dry and wet caverns. However, the reason they really became famous was their population of glow worms. I learned while I was at the caves that the glow worms are actually a variety of maggot. They live on the ceilings of the caves and emit a dull bluish-green bio-luminescence that is said to be spectacular. I have to admit I thought it was quite beautiful myself.
I decided to take a tour with the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company. They specialize in adventure tours through the caves, but there are other companies you can go through if you're interested in a more mild approach. We started by getting all dressed up in skin tight wet suits, boots, helmets and harnesses.
Then we took about a 10 minute drive up the road from the tour station and parked at the side of the road. From there it was a short hike until we reached the starting point of our trip. There we had a quick lesson on how to use the abseiling equipment we would need to make the 35 m drop down into the caves.
It was a tight squeeze through the entrance, but as you dropped down further into the caves it expanded out into a beautiful, cool, damp cave.
Here I will mention to you that the BWRC does not allow you to take cameras on your trip because of the danger of things getting dropped and damaging people or the delicate cave system. So all the pictures I have from inside the caverns are from the company themselves.
After everyone was inside we walked a short distance down the passageway before reaching a ledge looking over a dark abyss. Our tour guides then strapped us onto a long rope and asked up to turn out all of our head lamps. This was when I realized that I was going to be taking a zip-line through the caverns in the pitch black! Once I was strapped in and ready I pushed myself off and went flying through the dark caves. I looked up and saw hundreds of glow worm lights twinkling all around me. The ride came to a stop far before I wanted it to!
The next leg of our journey would take us into the black waters of the underground river that runs through the caves. We each got our own inner tube and had to jump off a rock ledge into the water below. It was freezing cold and I was very glad I had that wet suit! We let the current take us down the river until we reached a spot where we hoped out and climbed up a short way to visit a cavern filled with beautiful mineral formations.
We soon left the tubes and went on down the rest of the river on foot. It wasn't too shallow most of the way, although I did take a couple of dips into some unexpected holes! As we went along our guides told us some more about the glow worms. I learned that when they hatch and attach themselves to the ceiling, they let down a bunch of sticky strings that hang down and catch insects as they go by. I got to check out a couple up close and I have to say they were definitely a bit strange looking!
Shortly after our guides also pointed out a strange object in the water that we all stopped to look at.
After a few incorrect guesses they told us that scientists had been down to the caves to test it and it turned out to be a whale bone that had been stuck there for thousands of years and slowly uncovered by erosion.
Shortly after we came to a deeper section of the river where we had to swim for about 100 meters before coming to a ledge where we could exit and continue along a dry section of the cavern. We got a chance to see another large mineral deposit cavern.
Here we were given some delicious hot orange juice and chocolate to rejuvenate us before we continued on. I was very grateful to get warmed up after that cold river! To get to the section of the cave where we would be able to get out we needed to make our way through a muddy bypass. It was small enough that we had to make our way on our hands and knees. We all got quite filthy by the end!
That was OK though because in order to get out of the caves we had to climb up through two small waterfall which got us all clean and completely soaked once again!
As we climbed back out into the sun I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that it was over. It had been such a fun and exciting trip and I wish that I could have spent a few more hours inside! We spent 3 hours inside the caves and barely saw a small portion of it. If I ever come back to New Zealand this is one experience I would be willing to do all over again!
