Day 5 Waitomo Glow Worm Cave

This morning we checked out of the chalet at Ohakune and made our long way to Waitomo for the glow worms. We stopped en route at the Stoked Eatery in some dilapidated town of Te Kuiti. Have to say that it served one of the best local meals I’ve eaten in NZ. The town was so dead that even when Ho-Oh appeared as a raid in Pokémon Go there wasn’t a single person playing.

At Waitomo, thankfully we managed to book ourselves into the last tour of the day at 5pm but it meant waiting one hour for our turn. The whole attraction and caves are managed almost 90% by the original founder’s family and relatives for the last 128 years. The guide Rain, I think that was his name, gave us a briefing on how stalactites and stalagmites are created as well as the life cycle of the glow worms, and how limestones absorb sound so it produces really beautiful music when one sings in the ‘cathedral’ of the cave.

We then had a 15mins boat ride to see the glow worms in their natural habitat which look like thousands and thousands of stars twinkling in the sky but much closer to us. And then it was over. Have to say that this local attraction is overrated. Yes it’s an interesting experience but it’s not worth the price tag.