Down Under Day 13: Waitomo

Our day started with disaster. For the first time this trip, we actually encountered winter weather. Rain is a small problem when you want to do things outdoors, and a bigger problem when you want to do adventure sports like black water rafting. When we arrived for our cave rafting trip in Waitomo Caves this morning, this is what we saw:




Horror! So, instead of the awesome rafting trip, we had to settle for some damp wandering through caves. This turned out pretty well.

The Waitomo area is known for its series of beautiful limestone caves, through which visitors are encouraged to walk (...or raft), while checking out fancy stone formations like everyone's favorites, stalactites:



While limestone caves can be found all over the world, what really sets Waitomo apart is that its caves are home to a fly (the fungus gnat Arachnocampa luminosa), the larval stage of which glows a faint blue-green; hence the name glowworm. The glowworms attach to the ceiling of the cave and hang down sticky lines in which to catch their prey, passing flying insects. The colony's glow resembles a night sky, drawing mosquitoes upwards, into the traps.



Glowworms in Ruakuri Cave, Waitomo


Glowworm "fishing lines"

Our tour included three caves. The first, the Waitomo Glowworm Cave, has appropriately enough the largest population of glowworms, but not as much in the way of cave rock features. We did get to go out on a boat in the subterranean river, and appreciate a sea of glowworms above us for about five minutes of darkness; however, because of the rain, the water level was too high, and we couldn't ride the boat all the way out of the cave like usual. Stupid weather! Cameras were also prohibited inside this cave.

The second cave was Ruakuri Cave, with dramatic rock features, a 90ish minute walking tour, and plenty more glowworms to be seen. This time, cameras were allowed, and there was enough time at each spot for me to try getting some dark glowworm pictures. The one above was about a fifteen second exposure.

Ruakuri also had some fossils embedded inside the limestone:



Finally, we drove up the road to Aranui Cave. The smallest of the three, it's only a ten dollar supplement on top of a Waitomo+Ruakuri combo, and worth it. It's a short tour, but you do get to see some dramatic rock formations, and the mood is generally a bit more relaxed than in Ruakuri. No glowworms, though -- no insects deep enough in Aranui for them to feed on.



Rock formation in Aranui Cave

Once we'd finished with the caves, it was time for lunch, and we had massive amounts of time to kill. There's not a whole lot to do around here when it's raining other than the caves. We were staying in Te Kuiti, a town about 10km south of the road to Waitomo Caves (and, they claim, the world's sheep shearing capital, or at least home to the fastest shearer in the world). 10km north is another, rival town, Otorohanga, the Kiwiana (think Americana, but New Zealand) capital of the world. We decided to head north, and got some fried chicken and Kiwiana for our trouble. The main street in Otorohanga has a number of Kiwiana displays on the history of milk in schools, rugby, women's suffrage, and the history of the Pavlova, a meringue-based dessert. It was all interesting (and amusing at the same time); it sort of reminded me of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.




We didn't do much in the evening other than read and watch the Olympics, since there wasn't a lot to do in Te Kuiti. A drive down main street yielded nothing, other than some Indian takeout for dinner.