Waitomo- Glow Worm Caves

March 2, 2011

Majestic and magical is what today was. The one thing I found while researching New Zealand that I really wanted to do was go to Waitomo and see the glow worm caves. So yesterday we arrived in Waitomo and checked into a Top 10 Holiday Park. This was our first night camping and the campsite wasn’t exactly what either of us imagined. We are used to more off the grid type camping. And by off the grid I’m not talking about backpacking- so maybe that’s an overstatement. Anyhow, we were set to go to site 20. We drive down the little dirt road and fid our spot. Right next to, and that’s not overstating, a van with two women campers. There was a pool, hot tub, hot showers, a kitchen area, BBQ, and a laundry mat. There were also very small cabins scattered around. All the cabins were occupied by a motor car enthusiast group. Let me say, there were a few pretty snazzy cars.

We sit down outside on the grass for probably about an hour. All the while discussing which route we wanted to take the next day. I finally had to go inside the camper because something was biting my legs and feet up. Nick seasoned the steaks, threw the fresh green beans in some foil with butter and salt and then headed over to the BBQ. He returned pretty quickly. I thought maybe someone was already there, but the truth was, Nick wasn’t even sure how the darned thing worked. It wasn’t until later that evening he found out it was more like a huge frying pan with a whole in the center to drain the grease. Nothing like the BBQ’s we have at home.

After breakfast this morning we decided to take a short drive up the road for a short bush walk recommended to us by the woman who checked us in the night before. It was a short 20 minute tramp (or what we call hike), but we got some good pictures. Again, I can’t even express how lush it is here. It’s almost like a tropical forest, or almost like we were walking through a jungle. Some of the tree trunks looked like they were actually spiraling around themselves. There were vines, really tall trees and some trees that looked like ferns. Nick calls them Fern Trees. I’m not sure if that’s what they really are, but they are pretty amazing.

We arrived at the place they were giving the glow worm tours, which was right next door to the campsite we just stayed in. Louisa, our tour guide introduced herself. I don’t think we could have asked for a better guide. I realize, to be a guide you must be somewhat of a people person; Louisa was much more. She was herself, and comfortable being just that. She told us she moved to New Zealand from England. She took holiday to New Zealand and when she went back home, she knew she had to go back and has been living there for the last 11 years now. She must have had a real passion for NZ because she was so knowledgeable about almost anything NZ. She was quite the purist too, making sure to mention many times not to leave ourselves behind and only to touch the handrails as not to disturb the naturalness of the caves. She is a “caver” herself and has such a respect for them. We all had to wear helmets with headlamps on them. Before we even entered the cave Louisa picked up a rock from the river and showed us the insects that the glow worms eat. The small river dwelling insects grow larger and are swept further down the river into the caves. They grow even larger still until they have wings and can fly. Since they were washed into the caves, they are in complete darkness and cannot see where they are going. All they see are the little tiny lights up on the ceilings of the caves, which are the glow worms. They think the light is a way out so they fly up towards them. Each glow worm hangs out in its own little hammock. All around their hammock is 30 stings of web they’ve set. Each string is covered in really thick and sticky mucus. When the insect flies towards the little lights, it gets stuck in the mucus covered stings. When the glow worm is hungry, which isn’t always when the insect gets caught, it finds the sting and sucks it up like a spaghetti noodle. Then it opens its massive jaw and down goes the bug. These glow worms aren’t very large at all, and when they are seen with a light shining on them, they look like little green worms with no glow. The glow comes from two chemicals the worm has in its bum. Together the chemicals do nothing, but when the worm is hungry and ready to feed, it opens up a small opening to let oxygen in and BAM, you have a glow worm. At one point during the tour we sat in a boat and were asked to turn off our headlamps and not to use our cameras. The more our eyes adjusted, the more you could see the glow worms on the ceiling. It was absolutely amazing. There were thousands of them. It looked like a starry sky. They actually lit up the darkness of the cave pretty good too! Not to mention the reflection off the water. I’ve never seen anything like it in my whole life! After getting off the boat we walked out of the cave holding onto the hand rails, using no light to get us out. It was pretty sweet to see all the worms we’d missed before because we had our lights on.

Louisa served us tea/coffee and biscuits and then we headed off to another cave. It was a completely different looking cave. This cave had stalagtites and stalagmites, much like the ones seen in the California caves. Although there was a section that opened right up, completely to the ground and sky above. It was erie and amazing to be looking up at the trees from the cave underground.

Fun facts Louisa taught us about NZ:

There were no mammals on NZ until humans arrived. Every mammal, including deer were introduced as a pet by someone. How crazy is that? A deer for a pet? Weird.

There are no snakes in NZ. Lizards, yes, snakes, no.

During our tour we met a couple from Santa Monica, CA, British Columbia, Australia (visiting for their third time) a girl from Japan and a man from Wales who was cycling from the South Island all the way to the top of the North Island. A lot of people gave us great ideas as to where to go next.