On the North Island of New Zealand is a cave at Waitomo. So many of my daughters’ generation grew up in the 1980s with a Glo Worm, a stuffed toy which had a pajamaed worm body and a glowing head when squeezed. Both girls loved and slept with them.
I had no idea that the concept came from New Zealand, and we got a chance to see the real glowworms of Waitomo renouned for its limestone formations and glowworms also called Arschnocampa luminosa. They live in a cave system which includes the Ruakuri Cave the one we visited.
Wai means water and tomo means hole or shaft in the Maori language. They had known about the cave and the glowworms for over a century.
The glowworms are on the ceiling of the Waitomo Cave. A photo from Wikipedia.
One can tour the caves by boat as there is an underground river, but we toured on foot. We could hear the river though rushing through the cave.
It was important to stay on the pathways through the caves for safety and ecology.
We went through a Glowworm Grotto and marveled at the twinkling glow coming from its ceiling,
It was hard to photograph the worms, as it had to be pitch black to see them glow.
At one point our guide showed us up close the thin strands of slime that the worms emit, a form of excrement, something all of God’s creatures has to do. But still “ewww”.
Yep, those translucent threads are poop.
The limestone formations were also an attraction,
Especially the curtain formations which take hundreds of years to form.
A speleothem called a curtain.
We entered this cave walking down a long spiral ramp.
Going down was easy!
We reached this area north of Rotoruta by bus on our way to Auckland, and this is what was above ground and on top of the cave system.
On the ground above the caves.
The countryside between Rotorua and Auckland was pastoral,
The wooded area is a protected part of the original terrain before they cleared the fields.
Beautiful,
And scenic.
New Zealand is a beautiful emerald green country that reminded us of Ireland.
