The Waikito

We began our return journey to Auckland by travelling North to The Waikito region.  The landscape reflected the volcanic origins of the area with the hills rising in a succession of conical peaks upon conical peaks.  We visited the Waitomo glow worm caves, a truly magical spot where the highlight is an underground boat ride where the only illumination is provided by thousands of tiny blue pinpricks of light emitted by the glow worms.  We learned that in fact they are not worms at all, but maggots, and cannibalistic ones at that! In King Country, so named for its connections with the Maori King movement, we drove along narrow winding roads with stunning views to the relatively unknown

Kawhia peninsula. We walked 20 minutes from the road to a wonderful double natural arch, all that

remained of a vast 30 million year old cave system.  In the rocks were countless fossilised giant oysters.  A little further on we hiked to the thundering Marokopa Falls.  Of all the falls we had seen, including those at Milford and Doubtful Sounds, we thought these were the most impressive, perhaps all the more so because we were the only people there. At Kawhia beach we scooped a hole in the black sand and paddled as it filled with hot water, warmed by the underlying volcanic rock close to the surface.  Small bubbles rose up through the water and we were aware of the smell of sulphur.

For our last morning in New Zealand we were booked onto a 9am tour of the Ruakuri cave.  Descending 60m through a man-made entrance we emerged into a narrow, downwards leading, crevice in the rocks, that duly opened out into a passage festooned with delicate stalactites and stalagmites.  A shallow river ran through the cave and we could hear the sound of a distant waterfall.

Glow worm threads

This cave system was extensive: we walked for 2 or 3 kilometres observing amazing features.  At one point the guide turned off the lights and the cavern was illuminated only by the radiant light of hundreds of tiny glow worms. We were able to observe the threads that the female glow worm spins to catch her food.  And this was only one of 347 caves that have been discovered.  This had been a magical, awe inspiring end to our holiday in New Zealand.

Next stop, Melbourne!