Waking up on our last morning in Lake Tarawera took our breath away ...
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| Oh my .... |
This IS the most beautiful sunrise we saw in New Zealand. Thank you God.
It was tough leaving this house, but we were so grateful for such a brilliant send off. One last soak in the hot tub with coffee, and another protein packed breakfast from Tony, and we were off for our 2.5 hour drive to Waitamo.
And Carrie drove for her first time! She did an awesome job ~ very smooth.
We grabbed some take-away from a REAL BAKERY (yes, Ettore ... I couldn't help but think of you. Their baked goods looked good, but NOTHING like yours!)
Once we got to Waitamo, we had an hour before our Glowworm Tour to eat lunch and get caught up on Wi-Fi again. So much for me not posting on Facebook, right?
We are all so grateful for Dennis' THOROUGH research on which Cave Tour to take. We certainly did choose the right one ~ SPELLBOUND. They keep their group size down to 12 people, and we were lucky enough to only have 10. So we all loaded into a van and drove about 30 minutes to a private farmer's land where Spellbound has exclusive access to 2 caves. The drive, albeit in a downpour, was into some gorgeous countryside.
Our guide, Norm, was knowledgeable, funny, and a life-time caver. He got us very close to the mouth of the first cave instead of the typical walk down to it, due to the rain. And then the real fun began ...
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| All suited up and ready to go! |
The glowworms living on both Islands of New Zealand are actually MAGGOTS. As Norm said, calling them that would NOT be good advertising! They are quite fascinating creatures and yes, Marty, I'm sure you will want to Google their life cycle :-)
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| Like a spider, this is how they capture their food. |
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| Norm was really a great teacher |
Glowworms thrive in wet caves because the water brings in nutrients and insects. After walking through this wet cave for quite a distance, we boarded a raft, turned off all of our headlamps, and floated slowly through the most magnificent display of THOUSANDS of Glowworms. What made the experience so unique is that Norm asked us to stay silent during the float, with no cameras. There was a waterfall ahead of us, which we could not see, but sounded HUGE. As our eyes got dark adapted, the view intensified, including reflections in the water. It was a microcosm of the macrocosm of The Universe. Words cannot fully describe the grandeur ~ nor can I show you a picture.
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| When we left the cave, the rain had passed! We all enjoyed a warm drink and some cookies. |
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| A short walk brought us to the second cave. |
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| No hard hats needed here ~ |
This second cave was dry, so very few glowworms. But it was fascinating to experience a dry cave, including bones of a long extinct moa.
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| The rain has passed! |
After the 3.5 hour Cave Tour, we hit the road again and drove another hour to our FINAL resting stop in New Zealand. We are in a lovely 2 bedroom motel room in Hamilton. We didn't arrive until 7PM, so we just had nibbles and champagne for dinner ~
Dennis and I did our regular unpack/repack to put all of our cold weather clothes away and PULL OUT THE TROPICAL clothes. We are excited for the last part of this Very Brilliant Journey!
Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve!
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