Yes, Auckland city streets were a challenge, walking or driving. Driving on the left wasn't so bad if you could remember two things: the turn signal/headlight and windshield wiper controls were reversed, and the right hand turns crossed a lane of traffic (and were thus more difficult). But even without the challenge of driving on the left, driving in Auckland would have been demanding. The streets were often cramped or lanes disappeared in front of you, or buses would dart out or stop unexpectedly. Lucky for us, getting to the freeway (known as the "motorway" in New Zealand) was explained very well by the guy at the car rental place. In hindsight, I wish we would have also gotten instructions on how to get off the motorway at the end of the day.
Seven hours of driving. Yes, that's how much we'll do today. And that's how much we'll do tomorrow, too. (Today = South. Tomorrow = North. Both nights spent in Auckland.)
To make matters more interesting, it was raining off and on. But there was a huge bonus to this condition. Rainbows! Ma and I began calling New Zealand "The Land of Rainbows". They were miraculous. And abundant.I later shared with Ma a popular YouTube video featuring a guy who becomes overwrought while witnessing a rainbow. There may be some substance abuse involved. Or self-abuse. It's difficult to tell.
So, why did we drive all this way? One word: glowworms. The building was pretty awesome, too. We were outside here (see the trees?), but we were covered by some sort of acrylic dome. I enjoyed the lavish use of wood.The Waitomo Caves have been a tourist attraction for over 100 years. Yep, 100 years. Why so special? They're not just dramatic empty caves. They're covered with a species of fungus gnat known more romantically as a "glowworm".
The glowworm is actually the larval stage of a flying insect. They are born with organs that produce a sticky wick (much like the thread of a spider web) that hangs down. To attract their prey (other flying insects), they glow with a soft blue light. The prey gets stuck on the wick, and then the worm eats it. Yum.
Interestingly, the mature flying adults do not have a mouth. Their sole purpose is to breed and then die of starvation. Nice, huh?
We couldn't take pictures inside the caves, so the best I can do is show you this postcard. See the blue dots like stars in the sky? Nope, not stars. Those are glowworms inside a glowworm cave. There were so many glowworms on the walls and ceiling you could make out the features such as stalactites and the like.They asked us to please refrain from making noise or shining any lights. This would cause the glowworms to dim their bodies and spoil the show.
Due to recent rains, the river was swollen. See it down there? This meant that the boat portion of the tour couldn't conclude with us exiting the cave out the hole in the end. It didn't affect the experience. The tour guide just pulled the boat back the way we came, and we walked back up to the cave entrance. It wasn't as claustrophobic as you might think. Ma didn't freak out at all.In addition to the glowworm tour, you could also go tubing, spelunking (squeezing/crawling/inching through caves), or abseiling (like rock-climbing, but going down instead of up). It was a thrill-seekers' paradise.
We had a delicious (and cheap!) meal at the Big Apple Cafe just outside Waitomo. They had a great gift shop, too. Why didn't this place make it into the guidebook? Oh, right, I know. 'Cuz the guidebooks sucked.OK, enough worms. Time to see some mud!
