Waitomo Caves
I don't know if we can express the awe and amazement that we felt when we were here today. It really was a great time. The cave we were in, was one of 300 that have been explored. Wai means water and Tomo means hole, so literally it means water hole. There's a spot in the cave that the is about 10' wide that goes down over 50' to the river. We have a CD that has all sorts of pictures. The amount of stalagmites and stalagtites, is really something to see. It's Calcium, now I have to go check, but I think it's cloride, but it turns into limestone. Some of the 'mites have joined and they are called columns. The cave wasn't small at all, and the large room called the cathedral has renowned acousitcs. Singers that sung underground include Rolf Harris, Kenny Rogers, Kiri Te Kanawa; a NZer opera singer, and the Vienna Boys choir. No one in our tour group offered to sign but the ~100 Asian tourists were all clapping their hands in unison.
Then we went and saw the glow worms. They are actually larvae (kiwi pronouncation is lava) of the Glow worm fly. The worm is in it's larva stage for 9 months, then is only alive for about 4 days. It's born with out a mouth so it dies of starvation. What is it's purpose you ask?? We asked.... and it's sole purpose is to mate and carry on the life cycle. The larvae have a bioluminesense spot at their bottom end, that attracts mosquitoes. To catch the mozzies, they let out a fibre, like a spiders web, that hangs down frmo the worm, to entangle the mozzie. Each worm can hang out up to 10 or so. We saw one spot, and saw a few worms, maybe 100 or so, and when he turned on the light to see these fibres, it was almost indescribable, 1000's of fibres light those tiny light fibres, about 10" long, hanging down from the top of the cave.
We took a boat ride in the cave, for about <10 min, about 50m long, and saw 1000's of glow worms. They are a greeny blue pinprick on the roof of the cave. We weren't allowed to take photos, but I do have a CD, and hopefully it'll have some of those on it.
It was sunny and hot today. It's hard to imagine we only have 3 days left in the country. 3 more sleeps. We are having a good visit with Cheryl's mom and her partner Ian. They both are good company.
After putting Ians computer up and running yesterday, I couldn't get the DVD drive to work after I installed it. Today I'm happy to report that both the DVD AND the CD drive both work today.
We hope that it starts to get sunny for you at home, we'll try to bring some back with us. Robert if you read this, can you bring our voting cards with you when you pick us up please.
It was a full day today, so after dinner, it'll be quiet evening then early to bed, again.
L&C
Then we went and saw the glow worms. They are actually larvae (kiwi pronouncation is lava) of the Glow worm fly. The worm is in it's larva stage for 9 months, then is only alive for about 4 days. It's born with out a mouth so it dies of starvation. What is it's purpose you ask?? We asked.... and it's sole purpose is to mate and carry on the life cycle. The larvae have a bioluminesense spot at their bottom end, that attracts mosquitoes. To catch the mozzies, they let out a fibre, like a spiders web, that hangs down frmo the worm, to entangle the mozzie. Each worm can hang out up to 10 or so. We saw one spot, and saw a few worms, maybe 100 or so, and when he turned on the light to see these fibres, it was almost indescribable, 1000's of fibres light those tiny light fibres, about 10" long, hanging down from the top of the cave.
We took a boat ride in the cave, for about <10 min, about 50m long, and saw 1000's of glow worms. They are a greeny blue pinprick on the roof of the cave. We weren't allowed to take photos, but I do have a CD, and hopefully it'll have some of those on it.
It was sunny and hot today. It's hard to imagine we only have 3 days left in the country. 3 more sleeps. We are having a good visit with Cheryl's mom and her partner Ian. They both are good company.
After putting Ians computer up and running yesterday, I couldn't get the DVD drive to work after I installed it. Today I'm happy to report that both the DVD AND the CD drive both work today.
We hope that it starts to get sunny for you at home, we'll try to bring some back with us. Robert if you read this, can you bring our voting cards with you when you pick us up please.
It was a full day today, so after dinner, it'll be quiet evening then early to bed, again.
L&C