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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“actually, technically they're glowmaggots...” |
ANOTHER 8am start! Left Raglan for Rotorua via the gloworm caves at Waitomo. Got to Waitomo about 10am and i opted for 'Spellbound'- option that didn't involve getting wet in freezing cave water!
Went into the glowworm cave (technically they're glowmaggots- the larval stage of arachnocampo luminosa- a fly!). A little way into the cave we were told to turn out our lights and experienced total darkness...was really really strange- could not see a thing! Got into a boat, and still with no lights, floated down the stream looking up at the glowworms. Was really cool- they look just like tiny little greeny-blue LEDs stuck into the roof of the cave, and there were thousands of them...just like looking up at a really starry sky. On the way back out we stopped again at the point where we had turned out lights out and could see that there were actually glowworms there, and some light coming from the mouth of the cave, just was so dull you couldnt see the light until your eyes had adjusted for nearly an hour!
Went into another cave with some pretty amazing stalactites and stalacmites, and lots of tomos- holes into the cave. Apparently lots of animals fall down the tomos- one of the tour guides (a strict vegan) found a dead cow down there last year and was so traumatised she had a week off work! Really cool though was skeleton of a moa- huge flightless bird similar to emu- have been extinct for about 600yrs. There was a whole intact toe which was about 8in long!
Left Waitomo early pm and arrived in Rotorua about 5.30pm...
Flo xx
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