20/03/2025
Day 5 Auckland
It was another very early start, being picked up at 6.30am, for our trip to the Waitamo glow worm caves. It took nearly 3 hours to get there but was so worth it.
The limestone caves are situated on farming land and the farmers get paid by the Federal government for access. The farmers graze cattle and sheep on the land.
Before entering the glow worm cave, we were entertained by resident eels in a creek. They are quite tame & allowed the guide to scratch their backs, but will bite if fingers get to close to their mouths! They are also used to the guides giving some food, but it isn't done on a regular basis. The oldest eel in residence is a female estimated to be 60 years old, and she holds prime position. The younger eels all defer to her. She is about 3m long.
Into the glow worm cave in our hard hats & cap lamps, to see an amazing underground world. About 100m in we switched off our lamps to see the glittering lights of the glow worms. It was a surreal experience and so beautiful. My photos don't do justice to the fluorescent green of the worms. They each hang multiple sticky threads down from their spun hammocks on the roof to entice insects. Once an insect is entangled in the threads, the worm will suck the threads back up into its mouth and eat the insect. There are thousands of glow worms in the cave, it's amazing. Also lots of stalagmites and stalactites which were centuries old. They grow at a rate of 2cm per hundred years, and you can see a sample of how big and old they are in my pics.
The first half of the cave tour we walked along paths twisting and turning through the cave, until we reached the underground river about 60m below the surface. We then embarked on the second half of the tour by inflatable boat. Floating along in the boat in total silence and darkness was almost spiritual, so beautiful. Mother Nature sure is amazing. We were all affected by the serenity and the view of the glow worms.
Back up to the surface and onto the bus, we then drove to a second cave nearby, called a spirit cave by the Maori. This cave was much colder and very different. This cave is deeper and had only occasional glow worms. The main difference with this cave is it has several sink holes on the surface far above where you can see daylight, and over the centuries animals have fallen through them to their death on the cave floor. We saw skeletons of cows and sheep, but the main attraction is the MOA skeleton dated at over 12,000 years old. When the Maori first came to New Zealand in the 1200s, they discovered these enormous flightless birds everywhere. Back then there were no predators to a lot of the wildlife, hence the reason a lot of bird species evolved to be flightless. The MOA were 3m tall and belonged to the same family as the ostrich, emu and kiwi, and were obviously the biggest. As they didn't have any predators prior to the Maori, they didn't run away when confronted with spears, and by the 1400s were completely extinct. Unfortunately, a large breed of eagle with a wingspan bigger than 3m also became extinct as they had fed on MOA young.
When the MOA skeleton was discovered in the early 2000s, there was a big court case between the Maori who wanted the skeleton left in situ and scientists who wanted it removed to a museum. The Maori won, and it is the only MOA skeleton able to be viewed in its natural state. We felt very blessed.
