Waitomo Caves Tour

Mangapohue Natural Bridge
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On the 19th we woke up to pouring rain but luckily this didn't matter as we were spending the majority of the day in the car. We checked out of our hostel and left Whitianga at 10am. Due to the lovely weather and windey roads we didn't arrive in Waitomo, 246kms away, until 2.25pm. As it didn't stop raining until about 8pm we just lounged in the hostel watching tv for the rest of the day! The next day we made up for our laziness with a day full of fun and sightseeing. We went caving in one of the caves Waitomo is famous for. We got driven out to the cave area where we got fitted out in fetching outfits: wet suit, gum boots (wellies) and hard helmet with light. In order to get to the entrance we had to trapse through a field of sheep who we swear were sniggering at us. Once we squeezed through the very small entrance hole and climbed down the ladder into the cave we spent about 2hrs exploring around, covering about 1km. The caves were amazing, an intricate maze of limestone formations with massive of stalactites and stalagmites. We had to sqeeze through tiny passage ways, at times in pitch darkness, clamber over jagged rocks, slide down slimey mud covered rocks, swim through deep waters and float on inner tubes singing xmas carols! The best bit was when we sat in one section of the cave, turned off our lights and sat in amazment at the florescent green 'stars' above us. This of course being the glow worms/maggots clinging to the cave ceiling having a shit! (the green light is caused by a chemical reaction when the maggots have a dump!) After caving we drove to see some sights. First stop was the Mangapohue Natural Bridge which is a limestone gorge topped by a collapsed cave roof. From here we followed a trail to the 35 million year old giant oyster fossils. We then went to Piripiri Caves but this was just a pitch black cave with no signs so we decided not to risk going in. Our next stop was Marokopa Falls which were really impressive, multi-tiered and quite large. Last stop was Marokopa Beach with its dark black sands which contrasted against the velvet green hills in the background.