Waitomo and the Glow Worm Caves

The next day we were up early, and all plans going to see the sunrise at hot water beach were shattered as the pitch black deterred us completely. We had an early start and had to be on the bus for 8am for the long drive to Waitomo, something we were incredibly excited for.
Waitomo (meaning "Dark Water") is known for its deep underground limestone caves which are filled with thousands of glow worms, and where you can go black water rafting. This was one of the things we had seen on the internet, and was one of the activities and sights that drew us to travel New Zealand.

Our Kiwi bus was completely full that day, as some people on the bus in front of us had stayed a few days and now joined our bus. Isabelle from our room in Hot Water Beach joined our bus, as well as another English couple, Natalie and Sam, American cousins Alex and Ryan, and Irish buddies Niall and Niall.

On the way to Waitomo we stopped at the Karangahake scenic reserve walk, which took about an hour and included a walk through a long dark tunnel.

Amy, Annie, Steph, Mark and Tom

It was a beautiful walk, and another free attraction Arius insisted we see.

When we eventually got to Waitomo, we went to the black water rafting center to enquire about the prices of the trips. The caving experience is not cheap, but as it was something we desperately wanted to do, we didn't want to cut any corners.

There are trips varying in difficulty and in length.
The Black Labyrinth trip is 3 hours and includes tubing, glow worms and waterfalls for $128
The Black Odyssey tour is one where you keep dry and do some climbing high up in the caves for 5 hours at $179
We decided to do the 5 hour Black Abyss trip, that does the climbing, the waterfalls, the tubing, the glow worms and everything for $231.
With the Kiwi experience you do get discounted prices, so ours was a little cheaper than this.

We got kitted up and ready to go on our 5 hour underground adventure. We were given wetsuits, booties, hard hats with lights and climbing equipment. We met our two female guides, who were once again very cool and laid back. One of the girls actually had a hand missing, so we ignorantly thought she wouldn't be able to do some of the tour. We unfortunately cannot remember their names but they were both fantastic!

Top L to R: The two Irish Nialls', couple Natalie and Sam, Mark and Tom
Bottom L to R: Mindy and Steph

The first part of the journey had to be driven too, so we were briefed on the way about we could expect. We arrived in the middle of a field, and were slightly confused as to what would happen next. We had a small training ground to practice the giant absail into the cave, so we did this a couple of times before being shown to a group of rocks and trees. Beneath us, was a small hole that was apparently the entrance to the caves. One of the guides went first, whilst the other one set us all up and lowered us down into the hole, taking a picture as we went! The guide with one hand was the one to lower us, and to watch her adapt and maneuver the equipment was amazing, we soon realised that with even one limb missing, she was one of the best and skilled climbers we would ever meet, and this just made her ability even more amazing.

We were lowered down into the hole, and as it got darker, the space got smaller and smaller. You had to contort yourself round an awkward bend, and suddenly you were out in the open surrounded by nothing, but gaping space below you!

The abseil down was pretty scary! As it was dark and cold, and you couldn't hear anyone above or below you. It was a slow abseil down feeling your way around the awkward shaped rocks.
 When at the bottom we gathered again as a group and carried on through the caves. We walked over slat of wood that had a drop below that you couldn't imagine the height of. The next step was a zip line where the end was impossible to see.

This was another leap of faith we had to make, as you were about to be zooming through a small hard cave with jagged rocks in the dark. The first to go was one of the Nialls, and as he bravely took the leap of faith, the girls screamed "WE"RE NOT READY", turned the lights off, and screamed. Thankfully they were only joking, and got cheap thrills out of scaring their customers, but for a split second, we really thought that was the end of Niall.

We went down one by one, zooming through the dark, and ending in a huge cavern, where the glowworms started to gather! Once again the guide with one hand amazed us, as she was last to go down on the zipline, and at the end she managed to run up a wall and flip!

Here, we had a little break, where we were given hot chocolate and the TASTIEST flapjacks we have ever eaten in our lives! We sat on the edge of a rock where there was an eiree black river below us. We enjoyed our warm snacks, and were then slightly horrified when the girls said that we would need it for warmth, as we were about to jump into that cold dark river!

We all grabbed a rubber tube, and one by one jumped into the water. They were not lying, the water was absolutely freezing, and we had to regularly stop to do warm up exercises!



 We played a few games with the tubes, as we waded through the dark cave. We even stopped for a photo opportunity with a rock that looked like Gandalf, although it doesn't look anything like him in the picture!

The white rock above our heads looks like Gandalf apparently!

When we got to the end of the cave, the guide told us to sit in our tubes and make a line by holding onto each others legs. Once we were ready, she told us to turn off the lights on our helmets and look up. We did as she said, and we were all speechless as the galaxy of glowing worms above us was breathtaking.

Unfortunately as we didn't have nice lighting like they do when they photograph the caves professionally, the only pictures the guides managed to get of the glow worms was this one which could easily be mistaken for some rubbish disco lights.

However this is what it really looks like to the naked eye, and what we saw when we looked to the roof of the cave.

Photos from the Waitomo Website.

It was one of the most breathtaking spectacles we have ever seen, and the guide navigated us in complete darkness back to the area where we had eaten our snacks. She was so informative about the glow worms, and explained that although they look pretty, it is actually their fecal matter that glows, so in reality we were all staring in amazement at worm poo! She also told us about the strings they leave to hang down, in order to catch their food, which again were quite pretty to look at! 

Staring up at the glow worms provided great distraction to the freezing cold water, but we needed to keep moving to warm ourselves up. Here came the more active part of the adventure. We climbed up rocks, waded through small tunnels, slid down the slides they had placed in the caves and belly flopped into cold pools by jumping from rocks.

hahahahahahahahaha

It was hard work, but the adrenaline was pumping and it kept us going. At one point, things got really claustrophobic, and we had to squeeze through some tiny holes to get through, there was also another way through but most of the group powered through and did it. On the other side, we realised we were not alone in the caves, as a giant eel swam past us making us feel quite uneasy!

attempting to write 'Basement' as it was the only 8 letter word we could think of

We were given regular snack breaks to keep our energy levels up, and the girls were really patient if there were any section anyone struggled with. They had high spirits the whole time, even though they do this mammoth 5 hour expedition 3 times a day in the dark and cold!

The final part of trip was to get out of the cave. This meant climbing up a vertical hole in the ceiling just holding onto to the rocks around you, and with no pulling equipment. Not only this, you also had to climb against the raging waterfall that was coming down on top of you. It was difficult, but so incredibly fun!

We eventually emerged to the surface of the cave at 8pm, in the pitch dark!

We were taken back to the center to grab our clothes and a warm shower! We thanked the girls for their amazing tour, and Mark told them they were the coolest people he'd ever met. They provided us with hot soup, toast and played the pictures from our trip whilst we ate. We finished on a high, and were so happy we chose to spend the extra money to do the best trip as it was one of our highlights of New Zealand.

The same couldn't be said for American Alex on our bus however. He had done the Black Abyss in the slot before us, and managed to dislocate his shoulder when doing some of the climbing!!

We found him later on that evening feeling pretty happy after the injection they'd given him to numb the pain, however he still said he had thoroughly enjoyed the experience! That night we were exhausted from our day, and wanted to get in an early night, as the following day was another we were looking forward too! We would be headed to Rotorua to do the Maouri experience that evening, but on the journey there, we would be going to the infamous Hobbiton!