A post-script from yesterday’s blog. We were walking along Eat Street, when a young couple passed us going the other way. On his shoulders was their little girl. She took her dad’s cap and threw it to the ground, landing at our feet. It was an Atlanta Braves cap! I told the dad we were from Atlanta and he said they were, too! He had gone to UGA and lived in the Atlanta area, but they now lived Melbourne, as did his and her parents. Small world.
We bid goodbye to Rotorua this morning. We got to breakfast by just past 7 so we could be on the road by 8. We wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to make the drive to the Waitomo Caves. We were told to allow almost 2 1/2 hours. It didn’t take that long, even with two delays caused by road work.
We were about half-way there when we saw a road sign telling us we were approaching a fairly common occurrence on New Zealand roads: a one lane bridge. The sign also told us the oncoming lane had the right of way. What made this bridge different from the many others we’d traversed was it’s elbow macaroni shape. There was no way to see if something was coming. I’m happy to report traffic was light and we made it across without incident.
The Waitomo Caves is a major tourist attraction in the central part of the North Island. This is probably because some of the caves are home to glow-worms. Our guide told us they’re actually not worms; they’re mayfly larvae. Whatever they are, they glow in the dark.
We had booked our tour with Spellbound, because our chief scout Annette told us they did such a great job for her and her traveling companion Esteban. Annette’s reliability is unquestioned in these quarters. We were part of a small group—just a dozen of us—with a knowledgeable and entertaining guide. Our first stop was a cave with very few glow-worms but lots of cool limestone formations.
After leaving that cave, we took a short drive to another. For this one, we needed to wear hard-hats with flashlights attached. Once inside the cave, we walked a short distance before coming to a dock at a subterranean river. There, we got into a large raft, turned off our headlights, and floated along. The cave ceiling looked like it was carpeted in lights the size of pin heads. And at the end of that tour, we were able to take pictures of the glowing and sticky tendrils the “glow-worms” use to catch their food.
We really enjoyed the tour. It was Roslyn’s idea, and I just went along with it. But I really had a great time!
Back in our car, we headed north to Hamilton. Regular readers will recall that we met and had lunch last Sunday with Angie, whose daughter Bridgette used to work with our son David in Boulder. We met her last August when we were visiting David out there. Bridgette is now back in NZ, teaching school in Hamilton. We met up for dinner and had a wonderful time catching up.
We had made it an early supper, so that we could leave Hamilton and get to Auckland before dark. Even with the 120 km trip being mostly on a four-lane highway (a rarity in NZ), we just made it. We’ll be here for the next four days. It looks like rain may be here, as well. But we have family here and there are lots of indoor diversions here, so no worries.
Good night from Auckland, and mazel tov to Tar Heel fans everywhere.