Weekend road trip!

Kevin drove (on the left side of the road like a champ) us a few hours south of Auckland to Waitomo and Rotorua for a fun weekend before we hopped on a plane and said goodbye to New Zealand.

Waitomo is known for its glowworm caves. We opted for a tubing version of the tour run by the Legendary Black Water Rafting Co and it was awesome.  

Down in the limestone caves the aqua-blue glowworms dot the ceiling above the waterway from start to finish. This species is only found in New Zealand. UNFORTUNATELY you are not allowed to bring a camera and only the guide can take pictures. Not a single picture she took showed us with the glowworms. 🙁  Poor form! To her credit she shared some interesting cultural history with us. After the caves were discovered 400-500 years ago, the Maori would bury their dead near the cave entrances and believed the glowworms guided the spirits along the river toward the afterlife. I think it’s a lovely sentiment and a great way to remember how special these caves are to the Maori people. 

Down in the caves we jumped off small waterfalls, climbed through formations above the waterway, and tubed our way down the shallow stream for about 2 hours of fun.

At times we turned off all the lights and floated in darkness with just the little blue dots above. Although not from our exact excursion, I grabbed this pic off the internet so you can see what we saw. It’s the same in real life and a one of a kind experience.

I’ve gotta throw a mention in here for our unique Airbnb in Waitomo.

We stayed at the HuHu Chalet and it’s weird on the outside but very homey on the inside. We loved it! Our 1 day in Waitomo was nice, and I think 1 day is all you’ll need in this little cave town. We’re very happy with the visit and memories made.

Rotorua post coming soon and get ready for a boat load of pictures. 🙂