Waitomo Caves

My friend Andrea told me about the Glow Worm caves of New Zealand before I came – her sister visited them and had an amazing time looking up at the tiny twinkling lights on the ceiling of the caverns in the central north island. When I got to New Zealand, fellow travellers didn't find them quite as interesting as Andrea's stories and said it wasn't quite worth the price.

Still, Chantal and I signed up for “Black Water Rafting”, which essentially is where you get all dressed up in a wet suit, grab an inner tube, and float down a river in an underground cave. The guide was quite cheeky, and when we got into the cave, made us turn off our helmet lights so we were sitting in the pitch black, and then threw his inner tube against the water to scare the shit out of the glowworms – literally. The glowworm poo is what lights up in the dark and the louder the noise, the brighter the glow. Of course, making loud noises in the dark of a creepy cave also scared us.

The entire tour was amazing, but the best was when the guides got us to lean back in our tubes and look up at the pretty glow worms, which really feels like you're gazing at the Milky Way. Our rafting route was a lot of fun, and included a drop zone where we had to fall backwards about 10 feet while sitting in our tube, and another area where we had to go down a long slide in the pitch black. When I landed at the bottom, I couldn't hear or see anyone until I heard Chantal calling from around the corner. We assumed we had to walk on, but the further we walked, the less sure we became since we didn't run in to anyone and couldn't hear anyone. Finally, we (actually) saw the light at the end of the tunnel and climbed the hundred stairs necessary to leave the caves. It was absolutely phenomenal.

Glow worms!