GLIMMER, GLIMMER

Carol emailed our son Eric, as we were on the 11-hour bus ride from Wellington back to Auckland, telling him that she thought we would never get there.  It was a long time on the bus (especially with a drunk passenger who managed to polish off a full bottle of wine before the driver realized what the guy was up to  in the back of thebus.)  The renegade was immediately given the choice of a front row seat or getting off.  Enough of a diversion.  

Photo courtesy of Waitomo Caves

So Eric wrote back to advise us that we missed the Waitomo Caves, one of the main tourist attractions on the North Island.  Now Eric visited these glowworm caves 20 years ago...and my guess is that they were pretty amazing back then.  Today they are Disneyland.  We passed on them and instead went to the National Geographic version, Waipu Caves.  

To get there, you start with 12km on another unpaved road.  The cave is free; there are no quides; there is just a sign out front saying the exit at the back of the caves closed, so you need to retrace your steps to get out.  Roger wasn’t too enthused about going inside.

It's pretty dark inside

And gets even darker....

and it's big.

It takes 7 minutes for the rods in your eyes to adjust to the change and then you can see.  However, most folks don’t know this and stick their heads inside then leave.  As we were entering the cave, another couple was leaving, saying they couldn’t see and forgot their torch (NZ term for flashlight).  When I mentioned that they could just wait for their eyes to adjust, I couldn’t even get in the explanation and they were back in the parking lot and on their way.

The limestone features were huge.  They also made the ground a bit slippery, as there was also a little stream through the cave.  It was reassuring to step into the stream and find that the rocks and stream bed were NOT slick, although they were a bit mucky.

Photo courtesy of Waitomo Caves

It looked like there were thousands of glowworms on the ceiling of the cave.  At times we had to crouch to get through passages and in those cases we were inches from them.  No, neither of us reached out to make personal contact with a glowworm.

Actually, glowworms aren’t worms at all.  They are the larvae or adult females of certain species of flies or beetles.  The purpose of the glow varies.  Adult females glow to attract males for mating.  The larvae glow for one of two reasons, depending upon species.  The glow may be to warn predators that they are toxic or it may be to attract food.  Little bugs get caught in the sticky snare of the larvae and dinner is ready.  In nearly all species the glow is at the tail end of the insect body.  Not exactly warm and cuddly, although even worms don’t qualify in that regard.

When it was time to leave, we didn’t have to actually climb out.  The pathway was a gentle walk of about 25m.

Carol enjoyed going into the cave to see the glowworms.  The childhood song now makes sense…"glow little glowworm, glimmer, glimmer…"