We arrived at Vaughn and Maxine’s home for the second time round for the weekend. The weather was fantastic for the first two days and we got to see and do a lot. Friday night was spent relaxing and catching up. Saturday morning we left and drove south to the Waitomo Caves, which includes a town and several caves. It is a very popular tourist attraction in New Zealand as it is an impressive area filled with kilometers of caves hidden under farmland. One of the major aspects of the caves are the “glow worms” which are actually maggots that grow in the cave and feed off of flies that come in on the river below and get trapped in the silk the maggots hang from. They are called “glow worms” because it sounds more appealing to the tourists. We did the four hour “Lost World” tour offered by Waitomo Adventures. The four hours include an incredible 100m abseil down the main hole into a cave that we hike and explore. Once we were further into the cave we got to see the glow worms in full force, it was pretty impressive. What goes down must come up, so you also climb up a 100ft (30m) ladder to the surface. Our guides Allan and Dean were very friendly, professional and knowledgeable. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and definitely recommend it as it is unique to New Zealand. (You are not allowed to bring cameras down into the caves, so the guides take photos for you. For $20 the pictures are yours after the trip).
On Sunday Vaughn took us around the dairy farm despite the rain. Us “city folk” got to help move some cows around the paddocks and took a tour of the farm. We ended up in the barn that had all of the new calves that were between 3 hours and 5 days old. I got to bottle feed one little calf that had buckled feet and was still trying to figure out walking. We also helped Vaughn tag the calves so their ancestry can be tracked. It was very interesting to see all the hard work that is involved with farming and we really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks again to Vaughn, Maxine and Nicole for all of their hospitality.
Up next is the Northlands and it’s hard to believe we have less than 2 weeks left!!
Take care,
Laura
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