Waitomo caves & Rotorua

For the 3rd day of this North Island trip, we have an early start (5:30am, arch) to head to the center of the island, discover the Waitomo caves, which are known for their population of glowworms, that can be seen only there.

I love this pic, at least 1 good of New-Zealand landscape!

The area is magnificent, with amazing & typical New-Zealand landscapes. Green & rugged hills, I can't get bored to look at them through the bus windows, despite the lack of sleep.










To discover the caves, few of us are having a "blackriver rafting" tour, which means we will walk in and kind of raft a bit into the waters of a cave, which will enable us to see those great limestones formations of 30 millions years ago, and see the glowworms.







I was a bit septic to do this... but it actually proved to be an excellent way to see the caves & the worms, while having some fun doing some sport, crawling and ramping into the thin & narrow ways, sometimes having to dig into the very cold "black" water (8C probably).

















After some time through the caves, seeing many stalactites and few stalagmites, we arrive to the area where worms live, on the caves ceiling. Quite impressive to be 1. in the total dark then 2. to see them shining this fluo-green light in the middle of nowhere. Still wonder how they live and what they eat, but I'll get this another time ;-)

The group under the glowworms

The glowworms

An amazing cave pic

A crazy stalactite shape as an animal jaws!

In the afternoon, we drive further to Rotorua, where we can easily observe the crazy thermal & geological activity which is happening here, as being a very volcanic area.
Basically, everywhere in the city, including house's garden, you have some smokey warm lakes / paddles, releasing a certain scent of sulfur which makes a very funny smell all-around, and gives a paranormal atmosphere to the city.

We just went walking into the public gardens... and here what we saw:

To conclude this great day, we go and meet a Maori who will explain us the origin of this Pacific tribe, the culture and history, and introduce us to few habits and songs. We were not authorized to take pictures, but great & interesting time!

A nice sunset on Rotorua lake

The Maori central house

A catholic church on a protestant land