December 29th, 2010 off and running!! Kelly drives us 2.5 hours to Waitomo to see limestone caves and glow-maggots...I mean glowworms! Initially I thought okay, we are going to see caves...I've seen them before in PA (Laurel Caverns) but I was just totally blown away! First by the entrance at Ruakuri...a spiral ramp that descends ~12 meters! Imagine entering and looking 12 meters down a spiral ramp...not spectacular?? Well imagine this...staring down by daylight and the light is out and it's pitch black, then each level of the ramp is lit with a row of soft rust-coloured lights. Level by level each row is flicked on for dramatic effect! Still not impressed...well you have no imagination and just need to go to NZ and see for yourself! At Rurakuri Caves we see amazing formations of stalagmites and stalactites and glowworms that are literally inches from your face! My photos don't do these caves justice, so please follow the link above. The guide that took us on the tour was one of the people who helped reconstruct the entrance and footpaths in 2004, so tourists no longer entered upon a sacred Maori burial area.
The paths are concrete floors and metal bridges that are suspended with cables secured into the walls of the cave?? Unbelievable! And then comes the sights of the formations of stalactites, stalagmites and cave coral! Throughout the tour only a section of the path is lit at one time and is on a timer (this is to conserve energy and preserve the cave). So at one point the tour guide says, it's going to be pitch black for a few meters. Just place your right hand on the railing and follow. Uhhhhh....okay...so I let the darkness pull me in and held on tight to that railing and followed it to the end...although at times my feet did not want to move. What a dramatic prelude to formations! We were able to see glowworms up close & personal but the true beauty of them can only be seen by boat in the Waitomo Caves.Waitomo Caves weren't the same after a tour by a guide who actually helped build the paths into the Ruakuri Cave. Waitomo's best feature was floating silently on a boat in the pitch black with the ceilings of the caves lit up by millions and millions of glowworms!! It looked like a night sky filled only with blue stars!! Just beautiful, absolutely beautiful!! Oh so pretty...and shiny!!
