Waitomo Caves

On May 19th, a big group of us living in Orchard Park travelled to the Waitomo Caves to go black water rafting (tubing) and see the glow worms. It was an amazing experience and one of the most exciting adventures I had ever taken in my life.

We started off with a glow worm tour that took us into the caves and reminded me a lot of the Thurston lava tubes in the Volcanoes National Park back home. These cave were huge though, and in some places had water running through them. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos in the caves, but when we got to the areas where the lights were out it was a magnificent view. It was as if you were looking up at the stars. I even found myself forgetting that they were actually glow worms as I attempted to look for recognizable constellations. Our tour (which was more intended for young audiences - the guide was talking to elementary school students and had us sing twinkle twinkle) ended with a boat ride through the dark, which totally made me feel like I was in The Phantom of the Opera. I even sang a bit of the title song in the dark, it was fun.

After the tour we got ready to go black water rafting!

They had us change into wet suits that they provided, but were SOAKING WET from the groups that went before us. The suits were so cold and heavy, and so hard to get on, and they stayed that way throughout the hour and a half tour. Once we were suited up, they drove us up to the entrance site and the training area where we practices eeling up (I think that's what they called it) and jumping backwards into the water to prep for the short waterfalls that we would be jumping backwards off of in the dark cave.

That's us eeling up.

Once we were in the cave it was just amazing! A bit scary at times, not knowing if you were going to lose your footing, but the caves were so beautiful, with just the right amount of extreme adventuring for my not so sensation-seeking personality. In the end we turned off our head lamps and had to find our way out of the cave in the dark by following the water. This was definitely one of my favorite adventures in New Zealand so far!