We trekked out of Taupo on route to the tiny town/hamlet/spec of Waitomo. This little place, according to Shawna, is the Glow Worm capital of New Zealand (and in fact, it is the last known location of her cell phone before it went MIA, when she last was here).
Our route took us over a mountain pass which was a very pretty drive, although I'm sure quite hair-raising to those in the passenger seats. It also took us quite close to Mount Doom - which, funnily enough, is a LOT bigger close up.
Eventually we made our way into Waitomo, which consisted of one café/tourist store with an odd looking teepee out front, one bed & breakfast, one campground, one hostel, one pizza store and some mysterious caves hidden in the foothills.
These mysterious glow worm caves were what we had come to see. Our only stipulation was that we did not want to get wet while exploring. This narrowed our choice of the cave tours to the basic 'granny' style shuffle through, which would take about 45 minutes to complete. Although none of us were pushing granny age, this tour proved to be perfect for us, as the thought of donning a wet suite and sloshing through the freezing cold water by foot and inner-tube for three hours, had no real appeal, (well not to Melissa and Colin, anyway).
The caves had quite a chill about them and were formed from ancient lime stone, with stalactites and stalagmites making interesting 'art' formations within. We were all very impressed when, to demonstrate the acoustic quality, our guide sung a few verses of a Maori song which filled the cathedral-like portion of the caves and our minds like a timeless anthem.
Eventually we were lead into the dark depths onto a curious boat which felt like we were in a scene from the Phantom of the Opera. Our guide, holding onto a wire, maneuvered us through the water like we were sitting in a gondola. Peering up at the cave ceiling we saw the glow worms, which shone back at us hungrily. There was something very surreal about the whole experience, like we were staring out at the night sky and could see a multitude of stars above us. Some of the glow worms were on stalactites at different levels, which appeared like the night sky in 3D! Eventually the boat was maneuvered by our guide back to the cave entrance to reveal daylight and the magical light of the glow worms, very much like stars in the sky, faded from view.
Back in town, as night fell outside the caves, we consumed a Tapas style meal from the newly opened Café HuHu and then fell asleep to dream of starry skies.
Next up: Last stop Hamilton and a fond Farewell
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