Exploring New Zealand - Waitamo Caves

My first adventure out of Auckland was with a beautiful bunch of girls from church; 9 of us headed down to a small town about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive away called Te Kuiti - apparently famous as the sheep shearing capital of New Zealand!

Although slightly disorientating going from Autumn in the UK to Spring in New Zealand without a dark, cold winter in between, the first signs of a new season are still exhilarating. Freshly minted daffodils nod their bell-yellow heads and fleecy lambs caper in buttery sunshine as a warm Spring breeze ruffles the soft new leaves of budding trees.

We visit Waitamo Caves, a famous riddle of tunnels and chambers carved beneath the unsuspecting landscape by an ancient torrent of rushing water. As we enter the narrow passageway our sun-blinded eyes adjust to the soft dark, the close creamy walls opening up to crystal Cathedrals hung with chandeliers of pearly stalactites, the pillars of stalagmites rising regally from the chamber floor. The limestone sings with the sound of the sea, echoes of ocean waves rolling in from the deep as immobile fossils gleam in the torchlight, the dripping of centuries clothing figures and faces hunched in the chalky walls.

After descending into the bowels of the caves we board a fat, graceful boat beneath the glow of a lonely electric bulb, the black oily waters gleaming dully as we glide downstream. When we round the corner the light fades into silence; the thick, glutinous dark coating the cavern as we slide slick and silent in the river's arms.

Suddenly, the sky bursts above us; sapphire stars glazing the roof in the throbbing forms of glow worms, brilliant diamonds forming icy galaxies across the pseudo-night sky. One of the world's biggest concentrations of glow-worms, the bio-luminescent creatures attract not only their insect prey but star-gazing humans as well to marvel at their beautiful mimicry of the universe's constellations.

After admiring our fill, the boat cuts through the shimmering galaxies reflected in the soft inky waters and we emerge into fresh, lemony sunshine, leaving the crystal blue stars to their beguiling.