Week 534 · Waitomo Caves · Te Puia · Rotorua
Waitomo Caves
My trip to New Zealand morphed a bit over time — originally it was going to be a week stopover with a long bike ride on the South Island. Between no takers on the bike adventure and my role being extended, I shortened the trip and focused on the North Island. I de-risked further by staying in Auckland the whole time, since I was returning for Alexandra and Pat's wedding and needed to avoid injuries — especially to my face/head and walking.
When I was looking at the top things on the North Island, most were as far away as you could get from Auckland. The two places I really wanted to see were the Bay of Islands/Cape Reinga coastal area in the very north, and Mt Taranaki in the south — which would have entailed a 20-hour driving loop. Looking at day trips, the three most common were Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, and Hobbiton — and two could be combined on a long day trip. Hobbiton, a celebration of all things Hobbit-related, was third on my list (even though I wasn't sure what the other two were). Both Waitomo Caves and Rotorua have been long-term holiday destinations in New Zealand — going back over 100 years.
The Waitomo Caves are limestone caves — New Zealand is relatively young and limestone seabed was pushed up and erosion began. The entire cave is bright white and looks like marble — unfortunately no photos were allowed. At the bottom, when the lights are turned out, the glow worms can be seen. There is a river there and you take a short boat ride through the rest of the cave where the glow worms primarily reside. It was pretty impressive.
A positive aspect of the caves was that we were out of the rain. The next stop was Te Puia geothermal park in Rotorua where the geysers are outside. The primary geyser is Pohutu, which goes up a hundred feet every 20–30 minutes — except when it doesn't. Slightly lower eruption elevation than Old Faithful, and clearly less faithful. We waited 35 minutes and nothing — then our guide said he was leaving and sometimes it takes days (or he was tired of standing in the rain).
The park also had indigenous craft exhibits. One element that is very different between Australia and New Zealand — the indigenous people in Australia came over 60,000 years ago from Indonesia and then evolved in isolation. The indigenous in New Zealand came from Polynesia only 600 years ago and brought Polynesian culture with them. Very different indigenous cultures as a result.
"Slightly lower eruption elevation than Old Faithful — and clearly less faithful. We waited 35 minutes and nothing. The guide said sometimes it takes days."
