March 27, 2013 - Rotorua/Waitomo, NZ
I signed up for a day tour to Rotorua to see the Maori cultural center and the Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms. The tour picked me up at 6:30 and we were off!
Our first stop was in Hobbiton were we dropped a few people off for a tour. Here we had a short stop and got a chance to look at the tourist center. The city had turned it into a hobbit house. See the pics below.
Next we the town of Rotorua. We got a little tour of town and then were dropped off at the Maori cultural center. The center has a replica village of the the people used to live and information on their history. It was also home to larger thermal area. Several hot springs and geysers filled the land and there were trails winding through all the springs.
Lunch was a traditional Hangi lunch cooked by the Maori. This consisted of potatoes, chicken, kumara (sweet potatoes), and something very similar to stuffing (YUM!). What makes this special is that the Maori use the hot earth near all the thermal activity to cook the food. They dig holes and use the heat as an oven. It was delicious.
Next was a traditional welcome ceremony and performance. They were dressed in the tribal outfits and sang and danced there traditional welcome songs and dances. The also performed the Haka or Maori war dance. These people are known for enlarging there eyes and sticking out their tongues as a scare tactic.
I then walked around the grounds and through all the hot springs. I even got to see the geyser erupt! Cool!
Next we drove a couple hours to Waitomo. In the guided tour we walked down into the cave and saw all the stalactite and stalagmite formations. The guide turned out all the lights and that's when you could see all the glow worms. They have tiny little blue lights at the end of their bodies and use the lights to attract bugs. The worms build sticky strings and let them hang from there bodies and the cave ceiling. When the bugs get close enough they get stuck in the sticky string and become dinner for the worms. While in the cave we got into a boat in a little underground river. All the lights where turned off and this is when we really got to the massive number of glow worms. They covered the ceiling! Little blue lights everywhere. It looked like the night sky filled with millions of stars. The guide pulled us along the river via ropes and let us do a couple of laps to see the worms and then pulled us out of the cave and to a dock. We walked the path back up to the visitors center.
Awesome busy day!
What I learned:
Glow worms can turn on and off their lights.
I signed up for a day tour to Rotorua to see the Maori cultural center and the Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms. The tour picked me up at 6:30 and we were off!
Our first stop was in Hobbiton were we dropped a few people off for a tour. Here we had a short stop and got a chance to look at the tourist center. The city had turned it into a hobbit house. See the pics below.
Next we the town of Rotorua. We got a little tour of town and then were dropped off at the Maori cultural center. The center has a replica village of the the people used to live and information on their history. It was also home to larger thermal area. Several hot springs and geysers filled the land and there were trails winding through all the springs.
Lunch was a traditional Hangi lunch cooked by the Maori. This consisted of potatoes, chicken, kumara (sweet potatoes), and something very similar to stuffing (YUM!). What makes this special is that the Maori use the hot earth near all the thermal activity to cook the food. They dig holes and use the heat as an oven. It was delicious.
Next was a traditional welcome ceremony and performance. They were dressed in the tribal outfits and sang and danced there traditional welcome songs and dances. The also performed the Haka or Maori war dance. These people are known for enlarging there eyes and sticking out their tongues as a scare tactic.
I then walked around the grounds and through all the hot springs. I even got to see the geyser erupt! Cool!
Next we drove a couple hours to Waitomo. In the guided tour we walked down into the cave and saw all the stalactite and stalagmite formations. The guide turned out all the lights and that's when you could see all the glow worms. They have tiny little blue lights at the end of their bodies and use the lights to attract bugs. The worms build sticky strings and let them hang from there bodies and the cave ceiling. When the bugs get close enough they get stuck in the sticky string and become dinner for the worms. While in the cave we got into a boat in a little underground river. All the lights where turned off and this is when we really got to the massive number of glow worms. They covered the ceiling! Little blue lights everywhere. It looked like the night sky filled with millions of stars. The guide pulled us along the river via ropes and let us do a couple of laps to see the worms and then pulled us out of the cave and to a dock. We walked the path back up to the visitors center.
Awesome busy day!
What I learned:
Glow worms can turn on and off their lights.
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