Vacations-Away
|
|
|
North Island - Hamilton, then Waitomo The next day we traveled south to Hamilton, a small college town where we stayed at a comfortable hotel and had a great meal at a college hangout. Ironically, we encountered the Rugby team from UC Santa Barbara who were in Hamilton to compete in some tournament matches over the next few days. Waitomo The Cave Stalactites Glow Worms
We walked down a steep trail
where we assembled and put on our gear
We walked
inside and along a path to the right
We climbed aboard the boat seeing only with our helmet lanterns. Once in the boat we drifted down the river within the cave.
From the boat and with our lanterns on, we viewed many varieties and forms of stalactites As we descended deeper into the cave we heard roaring water as the river gained tributaries and accelerated in velocity. We turned off our lanterns and let our eyes adjust. Top
Upon departing the caves our guide served tea, coffee and cookies and we talked awhile about the experience and the surrounding ecology. We left late in the afternoon for Rotorua. MAIN TOPICS
|
|
|
Waitomo Waitomo is an area famous for its caves and
glow worms.
We
traveled for about an hour to the caves on narrow dirt roads and across and
around rocky ravines where sheep and feral goats were grazing. We then got
out of the van.
Our
very informative and wonderful guide, accompanied by his old black lab,
informed us of the early discoveries of the caves, their formation and the
environment
to a
river floor 
.
The
river disappeared into a cave opening,
until we reached a canvas boat. 
We began to see tiny lights all over the ceiling of the
cave (Do you see them in the picture on the left?).
The lights emanated from tiny glow worms attached to the ceiling (larvae with
luminescence). They resembled a vibrant and twinkling heavenly body,
galaxies. It became a spiritual experience.