Waitomo Worms, Wapids and Wabbits

glow-worms are actually a bit ugly
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Today we boarded the Waitomo Wanderer bus, which took us on the 2 hr drive to the Glow-worm caves of Waitomo. The main activity here is ‘black water rafting’ which involves floating on an inner tube through a labyrinth of dark, subterranean rivers in an underground cave system.

We were kitted out with wetsuits, helmets (complete with miner’s lamp), white wellies (obtained from the abattoir no less!) and a black rubber ring. Our guides Lloyd and Ally then escorted us to an alarmingly small crack in the ground, constituting the entrance to our caving adventure. After allowing our eyes to adjust to the darkness, we set off to explore the caves, clambering across slippery rocks and wading through waist high freezing cold water. Highlights were jumping (being pushed) backwards off waterfalls, and lying back in our tubes gazing at the glow-worms above as we drifted along with the stream. It turns out, the light in the glow-worm’s tail is actually the excrement of this cannibalistic maggot who hangs around fishing for food for 9 months, then shags itself to death in 3 days – still looked pretty though.

Angora rabbits sheared daily

practising the 'eel' in daylight first
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Nearing the end of our trip, we were asked to play Lloyd’s favourite game called “find your own way out of the cave in the dark”, with important rules such as “don’t do this…”, and “whatever you do, don’t go that way...” both fairly meaningless instructions in the pitch darkness. Claire decided she didn’t want to play this game but was ultimately given no choice. We all eventually emerged Gollum-like into the daylight, and were rewarded with a steaming mug of tomato soup and a toasted bagel. Another expedition survived!

the survivor photo
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With a few hours to kill, we went for a wander around Waitomo village, and came across a big red shed emblazoned with the words “Angora rabbits sheared daily”. We couldn’t resist but go in for a closer look. We’d missed the main show, but they kindly agreed to perform a private demonstration for us. A huge fluffy bunny named Flora was unceremoniously tied up and rotated like a live spit roast, as the angora fiber was shorn from her body. The rabbit didn’t seem to mind too much, in fact it was probably a relief to have her coat taken off in this heat.

Flora the bunny
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We travelled back to Rotorua that evening where we stayed for a couple of lazy days before hopping on the Kiwi bus once again.