The second part of the trilogy package was at Waitomo. Here there are caves and many of them. In these caves and in the area are glowworms. Worms that give off a glow in the dark kinda like a firefly, but with no movement. Neat to see and can be found in the wild on sides of rocks and near rivers. You can save a few dollars and go looking for them. 

At the Waitomo Glowworm cave I got to see what the cave looked like as I walked around it with the guided tour. I was fortunate to have a host who is a descendant of the original Maori finder, Tane Tinorau. I have been in a cave before at Howes Cavern in Cobleskill, NY so the formations were not new to me. The glowworms were. This cave has more than just the walking tour with a boat ride finish. At certain times of the year you can hear music in the cathedral room. Famous singers such as Glen Campbell have sang down there and the local children do Christmas songs every year. Unfortunately no photography is allowed in the cave.

The next stop was the Ruakuri cave just down from the Waitomo cave. Operated by the Black Water Rafting Company this is another cave walk with glowworms, but in this one I could take pictures. Also in the cave is the ability to do black water rafting, cave climbing and much more. More on the glowworms now. Glowworms are worms that are attached to the rock glowing from their waste material. The worms hang with sticky threads hanging down to catch any insects to eat. Then when ready undergo a metamorphosis to become a fly. These do not eat and cannot eat as they have not mouths. At this point in time their objective is reproduction. Within three days the fly will die from starvation. Hopefully her eggs, laid in clusters of 20 or 30, will survive. Why clusters of 20 or 30? The first to hatch eat the other so that provides some food to get them started. 

Spiral entrance to the cave

A rock in middle at bottom of entrance that has had water pouring on it for 10 years. Showing the effect of water on rock over time. 

Curtains

Glowworms. Hard to get good picture.

Glowworm threads

After I decided to go to another animal preserve and Kiwi House. This was nice and I got to see the animals up close. A main attraction for the preserve is the bird dome where you get to walk amongst the native birds and they are protected from predators. I saw another Kiwi, a few Tuatara, some Kea and Kaka. Most of the animals here are endangered or becoming endangered. A nice place to see some animals that are not in America and not your typical zoo animals.

Tuatara

Dome over the birds