Day #3, Waipu Caves

On Sunday, Feb. 7, we left Auckland and headed to Northland, a long peninsula I suppose jutting up into the Tasman Sea. We caught our first glimpse of sheep and cows in extremely steep pastures. I saw what I thought was some sort of terracing, but realized that those grassy rows of ledges are how the animals get around to graze. The pastures are literally right up against the ocean and bays and beach towns. Tawny grasses made me think they were in a drought--came to find out that is normal, the sun being so strong as to literally scorch the vegetation.


We began our foray into the cheap-but-lots-of-fun exploration of the North Island thanks to an ab. fab. book Wendy bought called "NZ Frenzy" by Scott Cook. From now on, any of our adventures spurred on by said book will be acknowledged by a *SCRMW, short for Scott Cook Rocks My World. We would have missed a ton of cool adventures if not for Mr. Cook's little book. Best. Guide. Book. EVER.

Anyhoodle, as we made our way north, we took a detour on a very windy road through the hills, very rural, almost no other cars (yet we still saw recycling containers on the driveways--those Kiwis are super environmentalists!). We found our way to a little pasture valley with gorgeous rocks jutting out of the grass, over to Waipu caves at the edge of the pasture under some trees! *SCRMW


Wen and I walked in with our headlamps and flip flops (oh mighty flip flops, you persevered throughout our trip, in caves, gross showers, glaciers, and mineral pools, we are forever in your debt) and we soon found ourselves alone. My headlamp reflected the water droplets on the cave's ceiling and they looked like shiny mirror bubbles. There was a shallow river that we walked through and then turned off our headlamp and allowed our eyes to adjust.

It was perhaps the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Glowworms by the thousands glowed at various levels on the uneven cave ceiling. It was like being amidst the milky way, emerald green stars, points of light so close you could reach out and touch them. The worms has silk strings hanging down, I must figure out why this is. The sound of trickling water and the glow and the solace seemed like a peaceful experience from another Universe. Otherworldly and utterly amazing.