The Three Day Taupo Thunder (1 of 4): Waitomo Glowworm & Ruakuri Caves Combo Tour

Easter weekend was closing in on us and PIC has it in his head to get away for that weekend for a proper vacation. Sydney, Wellington, and Rotorua were thrown into the mix but we ended up going for Taupo. What convinced him? The potential for trout fishing which I completely vetoed once I set out to arrange our IT.

Before you think of me as the wicked witch of the West, I did reason that we were only planning to stay two days and a night in Taupo and using half a day to wait for suicidal fish to bite your line isn't exactly the best use of our time -- specially for this exploratory expedition of the area. Thank the Saints Almighty he saw reason.

We left the North Shore at 7:15AM of Black Saturday, made a quick McDonalds drive through for a Sausage Egg McMuffin & hash brown breakfast and we were off. The roads were pretty clear as most traveling folk presumably escaped Auckland the day before. We reached the Waitomo Glowworm Caves visitor center in 2.5 hrs with no major drama and completely reliant on our GPS navigator.

We had pre-booked a slot on the Waitomo Glowworm + Ruakuri Cave combo on line a few days before and were scheduled for an 11:20 AM Ruakuri Cave tour which lasts 2hrs and the 45min Waitomo cave after. We had also booked lunch to go with it and used a voucher from our Entertainment Book for a 25% discount off their published rates (yes, they have a summer promo going on, but using the entertainment book voucher still works out better).

Because we had arrived at around 9:40 the ladies at the ticket office were kind enough to reschedule our Glowworm cave tour to happen before our Ruakuri tour instead of after. With just enough time to grab a cup of coffee and nip to the loo, we were off to our first adventure!

Waitomo Glowworm Cave. Unfortunately this part of the tour is a no touching, no photos tour given the glowworms sensitivity to light and the stalactites & stalagmites' sensitivity to the oil from our skin. Nevertheless, this is one tour you'd want to go on.

entering the glowworm cave...

The tour starts with a short trek from the visitor center cafe to the mouth of the cave. Our guide gives us a short history of the caves, safety reminders, and a run through of the rules. The gates open, and we're in. You stop in the middle of an open space just a few meters from the entrance and will be educated about different rocks, how long it takes them to grow and other similarly semi-blah stuff. You walk through a passage, go to another open space and get shown a handful of glowworms way up high on the cave ceiling and you start to wonder, "Is this it?"

Just as I was about to start rolling my eyes and get fidgety, it was time for a boat ride through the underground river were supposedly hundreds of glowworms reside.

Fact: Did you know that glowworms have the potential of eating their parents in case the adult flies get caught in the glowworm feeding lines? Gross.

So down a small pathway we went and slowly you start seeing more and more glowworms. They actually looked cool when there's more of them and when they're grouped into clumps. Think little pinpricks of blue light that remind you a bit of the glow-in-the-dark stickers you can buy and stick up your bedroom ceiling. At the end of the path, we find ourselves in a little dock where our group boarded this stainless steel boat.

All aboard, our guide started edging our boat deeper into the dark bowels of the cave. Less than 5minutes in and I was awestruck. The cave wasn't pitch dark anymore, I still couldn't see much in front of me but up high, the ceiling was covered in a soft blue glow of thousands of tiny pinprick lights. It was the glowworms in all their blue glory.

It is what I imagine the Milky Way would look like. If it were blue. It was like stargazing on steroids were there are a gazillion blue stars and were it all feels so close you think you can reach out and they'd only be a foot or two away from your fingertips. Plus, because of the glowiness (This is a word. Don't bother telling me its not because I won't believe you) it makes the lights feel like they're flowing along in plant-growing-speed. It was amazing and magical all at the same time.

not the best depiction...
but just to give you an idea

On a final note, as we were slowly gliding down the river oohing and aaahing over the glowworms, a lady whispers to her husband "wow... how does she (our guide) know where to go in the dark? Its amazing!" Ehm... While not glaringly obvious, there is a visible rope overhead strung from the dock, all the way to the exit that our guide pulls on to navigate the dark cave. Nope, not magic at all.

On that note, we move on to our next stop.

Ruakuri Caves. After exploring the glowworm caves we had just enough time to claim our $10 lunch served in the form of a burger and fries. Well you actually had the option for salmon or a veg lasagna but PIC and I are both meat heads so no contest here. The tour did say lunch was to include bottled water and a chocolate fish but we didn't get either of the latter and did not really notice till after we've polished off our burgers. Oh well, maybe next time.

Lunch!

So, exploring the Ruakuri Caves meant you'll be picked up by the Blackwater tour group in front of the visitor center and take a 5 minute drive to the Ruakuri caves. Apparently "ruakuri" meant two dogs cave as an old Maori chief had followed two wild dogs who lived in the cave's main entrance thereby leading to its discovery. After those same meddlesome dogs were made into dinner for their crimes, the cave entrance has since been converted into sacred burial ground for Maori chiefs.

Our tour starts at the back of the cave as the front or main entrance is restricted due to it being sacred to the Maori. Again, the usual history, rules, and safety precautions from our new guide, Vash and after we all nodded to give the impression that we were listening intently the big steel door is slid open.

She ushers us in and once everyone has filed through the door is shut and you are plunged into a pitch dark cave where the floor is sloping downwards in a cylindrical room with a deep dark hole in the middle. She asks us all to yell our loudest and the echo that yells back isn't very reassuring. In terms of how many bones might I break if silly little me were to go over this safety railing and down into that deep crater - well, let's just say more than enough. 

Down the Pit

After the yelling and release of inner angst, she turns on the lights. The crater is indeed deep and the sloping floor is actually a long spiral ramp to the very bottom were a rock sits, perpetually wet from water dripping from the cave ceiling. We make our way down to the rock and are again educated by how long it actually takes things to change shape, how we shouldn't touch anything, and are free to take photos in areas were the footlights are orange but not in the spots were they are blue. You see, blue means the glowworms are about.

Apparently, glowworms are pretty common around these parts. Made me think about Gollum’s ability to see in the dark - He probably had glowworms in his cave too.

No major dramas on this tour, but its a long one that normally takes about 2 hours to complete. The rock formations here are much better than the ho-hum ones we saw in the first cave and definitely more photo worthy. There is full commentary the whole way and I like how our guide was very engaging and not too stuffy. She even took us to the part where the guys who did the black water abyss floated by.

Highlight wise, there isn’t anything really spectacularly noteworthy about this stop, just that the rocks were definitely cool in all their shapes and sizes. What I personally found great was the fact that the cave was laid out with firm, neat, and safe pathways for the tourists. Everything was adequately lit and well kept while maintaining the natural set up of the cave. Even with the light, the railings, and the concrete or steel floors, nothing felt artificial. Kudos to the Kiwis for marrying tourism, safety, natural conservation, and fun without sacrificing any of the cave’s original glory!

Would I come back again? Maybe not to Ruakuri, as a rock is a rock, is a rock…. But I’d certainly like to go through that little boat ride through the glowworm caverns again 

Also visit:

http://www.waitomo.com/ruakuri-waitomo-combo.aspx

Pre-book!