Waitomo Caves

After learning about the game of cricket from a local guy that I met in Victoria Park and Anja satisifying her shopping cravings we headed south through Hamilton to the Waitomo Caves, home of the world famous Glow-worms caves. We spent our first night in the cabin in a long while because there was rain in the forecast (I am sure it was our fault).

The next morning we split up, Anja deciding to do the walk-through tour of the newly opened Rukurai Caves with phenomenal stalagtites (from the ceiling), stalagmites, glow-worms (which really are maggets) and other amazing cave-rock-formations. I embarked on the black-water rafting tour, a 3h adventure by intertube through dark caves with glow-worms on the ceilings, like the nightsky, small waterfalls and lots of ice-cold water. After a short visit at the local Cave Museum, not really worth it, we continued on our way toward Tongariro National Park. This is where many of the Lord of the Rings Volcano scences were filmed and the plan was to do an 8h hike the next day.

After checking the 5-cast (just for fuz and cuz) and finding more rain than we were willing to put up with on a day hike, we continued on to Napier. All in all a REALLY long day on the road.