Waitomo, New Zealand North Island – April 1st – 2nd, 2017

Waitomo’s claim to fame are the glowworm caves. Glowworms are crazy larva worms that create sticky strings that hang from any overhanging ceiling (like a cave for example). At the bottom of their sticky string is a glowing blue light that attracts moronic insects which get entangled. When the glowworms feel their self-made fishing pole moving they know they have caught something and reel in their catch for a feast. After their larva stage, glow worms become stomach-less flies and live for about 48-hours before dying of starvation. I guess you really are what you eat. So, long story short, we made the trip to Waitomo to see the glowworms.

We arrived at the ticket office an hour and a half early thanks to the time change which was unbeknownst to us (side note: why do we still do daylight savings?!). Oh well, we had time to cook a gourmet breakfast before the tour. The tour took a short walk through a pretty substantial cave before boarding small aluminum boats and floating underneath a star filled sky of glowworms. SO COOL!!! Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos in the cave, so I borrowed one from the internet for your viewing pleasure. After the main attraction, and before getting back on the road, we walked through some smaller caves nearby which were also pretty great, although not covered in blue luminescent specs.   

Waitomo Glowworm cave. Copyright not us.

Around Waitomo. The bottom-left photo is the sunrise view from our campsite.