Day 336
Saturday 2nd February 2008
Blue Island Holiday Park, Rotorua, North Island $18 each for tent site.
Our ambition today was to see the Aranui and Glowworm caves which were about 30kms south of our campsite. It was such a beautiful morning and we were looking forward to doing something other than the practical pastimes of driving, eating and setting up our tent!
And seeing the caves was just the thing to uplift our mood. It cost us $100 to see these caves but we thought it was worthwhile. We’re camping so we can use the rest of the money we’ve budgeted to see the sites!!!
The first cave we saw was the Waitomo Glowworm cave. And it’s something I’ll never forget! The caves were cold so we were glad to have our coats on! We spent some time looking around the main caves and then we went on a little boat down the river under the cave.
The glow worm cave really did glow with light. The roof of the caves had little glowworms that looked like stars. When the guide turned on the light to show us the worms, we could see crystal necklaces hanging down (their mucus to catch flies and insects). So beautiful! Apparently Australia is the only other country to have Glowworm caves!
The next cave we saw was the Aranui Cave which is about 3km’s away from the Waitomo Glow Worm cave. It’s set in the Ruakuri Scenic Reserve, was found in 1910 and is named after Ruruku Aranui, a maori man who found him while he was out chasing pigs with his dog.
The dog chased the pig into the cave..and when Ruruku went in…he saw the cave! He reported it and was given 25 pounds and had the cave named after him!
This cave is smaller. A the entrance is a nest of insects called the New Zealand Wetas! And further in, this cave has really incredible stalagtites’ and stelagmites!
And they looked like caramel in some places and white icing in others. Some had the texture of coral and other’s like candlewax. So different. These caves, we were told, were the most beautiful in the world. And I would believe it.
The guide told us some of the names they had for them…ie a butchers shop because the formations looked like meat and the various veges ie carrots and cauliflowers! There is also a wedding gown with Grumpy at the foot of it. They all spectacularly resemble the names given to them too! There was an Aladdin's Cave as well!!
Both caves had what they call a Cathedral..which all caves have apparently! I can just imagine people singin g in here with the acoustics as they were!
It was really funny listening to the guide because she had such a strong kiwi accent.
The ‘wee moment’ was used a lot..and the way she swallowed her vowels made me laugh! She pointed out the Silver Ferns in the Reserve…they are smaller than the tree fern..but so unusual!
We ventured onto Kiwi Park in Waikato after seeing the caves. We were really enjoying siteseeing! And..we wanted to see a KIWI! This park is owned and operated by the Otorohanga Zoological Society.
The Kiwi is an amazing bird! It’s indigenous to NZ and is flightless! It was hard to see the bird until it was feeing time. Then we saw it feeding (it looked like it was being fed bread soaked in milk but I’m not sure what it was it was eating!). The feeder had a bowl and she and the kiwi were behind closed doors…with us, the crowd watching. The Kiwi looked hilarious the way it sort of half walked, half danced to it’s bowl!
The interesting thing about the area of Waikato is the road signs..saying there are Kiwi’s in the area! Yet very few people have actually seen a native kiwi In the wild! But they must be there.
After all this activity we headed to Rotorua to our tent site. We stayed at the Blue Lake holiday Park which is ABSOLUTELY GREAT! It cost $18 each, in a powered site because it was the only one available (but it’s 3 phase power) and our site was huge. Our poor little tent looked so lonely set up on this huge tent site! The car parked in front made it look less obviously small..but they both only took up a third of the tent site!!!
This place had all the facilities you could want! It didn’t have cutlery or crockery though. And we still don’t have any either..so we’re still smelling everyone’s cooking but not cooking ourselves. We’re eating fruit and toast in the mornings on our plastic bags…great recycling! Ha! We also have a knife and a teaspoon..and of course, we still have our Berlin Kettle!
Rotorua is gorgeous! We went to see Mum and John’s friend Gwen today..but she was out, so we’ll try tomorrow!
We ate dinner overlooking the Blue Lake tonight..what beautiful forest it has..such a magical place.
Finally beginning to relax………………
Tomorrow..we will go and explore more of Sulphur City!!!! It really does smell here in hot springed, mud flatted Rotorua.....
