We got to Waitomo in the rain and the dark. But the lady running our bed and breakfast told us about a night hike to see the glow worms and so we went. It was SO dark on the Ruakuri bushwalk. we had flashlights from our place. Mom was so excited when we saw them on the side of the rocks. She made us try to take a picture. The little dots are the glow worms.
The next morning we woke up early to sun, green hills, and our neighbor’s goat.
And then me and dad went on one of my favorite activities of the North Island, and that was to go black water rafting, which is another way of saying cave hiking. This included jumping off waterfalls inside the caves, walking through the frigid cold water while examining stalactite pillars that grow a total length of your fingernail throughout roughly 150 years, and floating through the caves while observing awesome glow worms everywhere. This adventure was truly amazing, but unfortunately only me and dad could go because Poppy wasn’t old enough and mom needed to stay with her. They got to hike through the caves and go on a boat instead.
Anyway, we had to wear wet suits, helmets with flashlights on them, and I had to wear an extra fleece because I was considered “a little bean.” The wet suits kept our bodies warm, except for our hands which weren’t covered by anything, and my hands ended up tingling after it was underneath the hot shower afterwards.
My favorite part was when we got to jump off the mini waterfalls, by doing this we needed our little tubes that we carried around the whole time. We would turn around, back facing the edge, hold the tube to our butts, and jump! After jumping there would be a guide at the bottom ready to take a silly photo of your reaction after you break the surface.
Another part that I thought was really cool was when we would be in a position called the electric eel where we would all be sitting in our tubes holding onto the feet of the person behind you ensure nobody floats off. We also had to go under this overhang. The water was just low enough for us to go. Anymore rain and we’d have had to skip the rest of the tour.
While being in this formation we would turn off all our head lights and let the water take us while looking at the glow worms all around us. They weren’t hard to spot, given that the caves were almost completely black, and when you see them, they are so pretty and cool.
We learned a lot about them from one of our guides. She explained that glow worms aren’t actually worms but gnats. These gnats have butts that glow up making that blueish turquois color. Glow worms are born in different clusters of 15-20 eggs because whichever egg hatches first will typically eat all their siblings before they hatch, so spreading them out makes it so more can live. After that, they make long, beaded string to hang from the ceiling of the cave. These are made up from 15-70 of their tiny saliva and pee balls hanging in strands kind of looking like a tiny beaded neckless. They are used for catching bugs that are flying up to what they think is the stars in the night sky, but when in reality is a trap formed from some of the most gross parts the glow worm can produce. After the bug is securely stuck to the trap the glow worm will then use its third tongue to lower the bug right into its mouth.
Lastly, we got back from the cave hike (about 2 hours) where we got some nice hot showers and unlimited tomato soup after one of my favorite adventures on our trip. — Grayson
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