Waitomo (Day 93): Ruakuri Cave and Glowworms

June 1, 2016

Today is officially the first day of Winter down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Since we’re slowly making our way south (on the North Island) to Wellington, we’re seeing temperatures drop drastically. The temperatures are beginning to feel like Sapporo weather when the sun goes down (below 5°C).

We slept well last night. The bed was quite comfortable and it was cool to stay in such a historic hotel. It felt more like it should be a B&B rather than a hotel from the style of the rooms. I opened the curtains and saw beautiful green hills, which we didn’t get to see when we came in at night.

Our view from our balcony
Our view from our balcony
Waitomo Caves Hotel was built in 1908 with additions made in the 1930's
Waitomo Caves Hotel was built in 1908 with additions made in the 1930’s

We woke up earlier today to go to the information centre to book a Waitomo Caves tour, but they didn’t open until 9am (which we found out when we got there at 8:30am). We booked a combo tour to see the Ruakuri and the Glowworm Caves. The combo tour cost $87 NZD per person and included entrance to the Waitomo Museum ($5 NZD value). Our pick up time wasn’t until 10am so we had time to grab something quick for breakfast. There wasn’t much choice in Waitomo for restaurants since it was a very small town, so we went to the only nearby restaurant that was open – “Kiwi Paka”.

"Downtown Waitomo"
“Downtown Waitomo”. We’re the only car parked infront of the information centre at 8:30am

Kiwi Paka was a “cabin like” hotel and a restaurant that was only about 200m from our pick up point. Tim and I shared a big breakfast combo ($17 NZD) and a flat white ($4.50 NZD).  It was a good breakfast to share since we wouldn’t be eating again until later in the afternoon.

Breakfast up the road from the tourist centre
Kiwi Paka just up the road from the information centre
Feijoas (fruit) free at Kiwi Paka. They were tart and had similar gritty texture as a guava
Feijoas (fruit) were free at Kiwi Paka. They were tart and had a similar gritty texture to guava
Our big breakfast
Our big breakfast

We got picked up by the tour company from the information centre and taken to Ruakuri Cave. The tour lasted about 1.5 hours as we were taken deep into the limestone caves and were guided around. We saw some interesting formations and a few clusters of glowworms. The guide was only okay. She wasn’t as informative as I’d like and I felt like I didn’t learn too much from her.

Entrance of the Ruakuri Caves
Entrance of the Ruakuri Caves

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Inside the caves
Inside the caves
A cool flat sheet like stalactite
A cool flat sheet like stalactite

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After the Ruakuri Cave, we were dropped off at the Glowworm Cave, where we were lead into another cave in Waitomo. The guide for this portion of our tour was a lot better (in my opinion). She was Maori, and was a lot more knowledgeable about the caves and glowworms than our first guide (she was also pretty funny). We weren’t allowed to take any pictures in this cave though. The tour started off with us walking through a limestone cave, which wasn’t as neat as the Ruakuri Cave, and then we were lead to the river below to see the thousands of glowworms. They looked like clusters of stars and was amazing to see. Everything was pitch black and silent. The tour guide didn’t use a paddle to move the boat around but was just pulling on rope that was strung up inside the cave to move the boat. We were very impressed that she didn’t fall in. This tour lasted about 45 minutes. If we were to go back again, I would just go back to the Glowworm Cave, but I’m glad we did both this time around.

Entrance to the Glowworm Caves
Entrance to the Glowworm Caves

We headed back into town where we left the car but took one of the trails back instead of the main road. We took the Waitomo view point trail which lead us through a forested area and then up a hill with a view of Waitomo and the surrounding rolling green hills. My favourite part of New Zealand has been all the scenery. I can’t get enough of all the rolling green hills. They go on for miles and are so beautiful!

Walking through the Waitomo trail
Walking through the Waitomo trail
Beautiful views from the Waitomo view point
Beautiful views from the Waitomo view point
You can see the Waitomo Caves Hotel we stayed at
You can see the Waitomo Caves Hotel we stayed at

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Once we got back into Waitomo Village, we went to the museum since we had free admission. We walked around the small museum, which is located at the back of the information centre, and watched one of the short documentaries they had available for viewing. We had the whole theatre to ourselves and I fell asleep (which normally happens to me in dark theatres). Everyone else seemed to enjoy the documentary about a group of New Zealand cavers who tried to find a connection between two caves but failed (Tim: Anticlimactic ending).

Waitomo Caves Tickets
Old Waitomo Caves Tickets

Feeling well rested, we got into the car and made our way towards Wellington. The drive down was about 5 hours south. On our drive we saw some amazing scenery. We saw two volcanic looking mountains that were covered in snow. Snow covered mountains aren’t things we usually get excited about but with New Zealand’s very green landscape, the solo snow covered volcanic mountains looked amazing.

Reminds me of the Windows landscape
Reminds me of the Windows landscape

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Tim pulled off to the side of the highway and we all took pictures behind a farm fence
Tim pulled off to the side of the highway and we all took pictures behind a farm fence
Snowy volcano
Snowy volcano

We stopped in a small town called, Ohuke, for dinner. Since it was such a small town, we didn’t have much choice. We ended up going to a family run restaurant called Captain Kune’s. They served any fried food you can think of, burgers, and pizzas. The owners were friendly and you could tell it was a family run joint and everyone in town seemed to know each other.

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Garlic fries ($3.50 NZD), 2 pieces of unknown fish ($6 NZD) and cheese burger ($5 NZD)
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Captain Kune’s in Ohuke

After eating dinner and getting gas, we were on our final leg to Wellington with three more hours to go. Since the sun sets so early, it felt like it was very late in the evening. As we were driving to Johanna’s house (Johanna went to med school with Jess and Robin), my initial impression of Wellington was that it reminded me of San Francisco because of all the hills and the way houses looked and were spaced. We’ll see what it looks like in the day light. Maybe I’m totally wrong. Johanna lives pretty far up on the side of a hill, which most houses in Wellington seem to be situated, in an area with newer houses. She welcomed us with open arms and showed us our rooms for our time here. She has a really nice home and is very kind to let us (Tim and I) stay with her. We settled in and she made us some tea before we all washed up for bed.

Wellington seems like a really nice place. We’re looking forward to seeing it tomorrow in the day light!

Steps today: 8,000

Rotorua (Day 92): Lady Knox Geyser, Lake, and Polynesian Spa

May 31, 2016

We set an alarm to wake up in time to watch the Lady Knox Geyser erupt at 10:15am. Robin read about it the night before and was interested in checking it out. By the time we got ready and checked out, we had 20 minutes before the eruption and it took about 25 minutes to actually drive there. When we pulled up to the parking lot, we ran to the geyser and saw the presenter still talking about New Zealand’s geysers, so it was perfect timing!

Highway from Rotorua to Waiotapu
Highway from Rotorua to Waiotapu
Entrance to the Lady Knox Geyser
Entrance to the Lady Knox Geyser

As soon as the presenter stopped talking, the geyser began erupting, like clockwork. The geyser could erupt for up to an hour (unusually long). After about 5 minutes, everyone left after taking their photos. We stayed around to see the eruption end, but after about 20 minutes, we gave up and left, as did the other people who were waiting around. Tim felt sad for the geyser because it was still erupting with no one watching. People’s attention spans are so short, and I guess it was also starting to rain.

Lady Knox Geyser erupting
Lady Knox Geyser erupting at full force
Close up of the geyser as the weather began to change
Close up of the geyser as the weather began to change
We've seen a lot of rainbows because of the bipolar weather
We’ve seen a lot of rainbows because of the bipolar weather

When we first arrived, there was a sign that said to be ready to show your tickets. We didn’t realize it cost money see the geyser because Robin read it was free. It worked out perfectly that we were slightly late because there was no one checking tickets when we rushed in. We ended up seeing the geyser and other sights around the Waiotapu area for free. I looked online tonight and apparently the sights were $32.60 NZD per person!

On our way out of the Waitapu area, we saw signs for a mud bath so we decided to check it out. The mud bath was another hot spring which made mud bubble up. Rotorua is a lot like the onsen town of Beppu in Japan, where we went around to all the different “hell” hot springs. It ended up being a similar day since we planned on going to a hot spring spa too.

Waiotapu area looks like Jurassic Park could be filmed here with the geothermal steam and all the fern like trees
Waiotapu area looks like Jurassic Park could be filmed here with the geothermal steam and all the fern like trees
Mud Bath at Waiotapu
Mud Bath at Waiotapu

We made our way back into Rotorua’s CBD for lunch. Jess read about a brunch restaurant in Lonely Planet called, Third Place Cafe, so we decided to go there. It was a casual cafe where you order at the counter and they bring the food out to you. The breakfast and lunch menu looked really good so I was excited to try it out. I ordered a “Roasted Kumara Mumble Jumble” breakfast and Tim ordered the “Middle Eastern Spring Lamb Platter”. Both dishes were really good. We were both happily satisfied. If we ever go back to Rotorua, I would definitely eat here again.

Third Place Cafe counter, Rotorua
Third Place Cafe counter, Rotorua
Kumara Mumble Jumble: roasted kumara (Maori sweet potatoes), carmelized onions, chorizo, poached egg, roasted tomatoes ($17.50 NZD = $15.40 CAD)
Kumara Mumble Jumble: roasted kumara (Maori sweet potatoes), carmelized onions, chorizo, poached egg, roasted tomatoes ($17.50 NZD = $15.40 CAD)
Lamb Platter: falafels, hummus, mint yogurt, sliced lamb, pita and salad ($18.50 NZD = $16.25 CAD)
Lamb Platter: falafels, hummus, mint yogurt, sliced lamb, pita and salad ($18.50 NZD = $16.25 CAD)
View from Third Place Cafe
View from Third Place Cafe. You can see Rotorua’s hot springs steaming from the vents around town and Lake Rotorua.

After lunch we headed to Lake Rotorua, which is the second largest lake on the North Island. We walked along the walkway of the lake and around a park and saw a lot of birds. There were a lot of black swans in the water, which I haven’t seen so up close before. There were also large gangs of New Zealand geese, which are large and white.

Some friendly black swans
Some friendly black swans
New Zealand geese making a lot of noise
New Zealand geese making a lot of weird noises
Nice forested walkway
Not sure what kind of tree this was but it looked neat/different
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Nice forested walkway along the side of Lake Rotorua
Sulphur Point - there is a strong sulphur (rotten egg) smell in Rotorua
Sulphur Point – there is a strong sulphur (rotten egg) smell in Rotorua
I've never seen these birds before!
First time seeing these birds. The people in the car were feeding the birds bread.
Rotorua Museum and Maori War Memorial
Rotorua Museum and Maori War Memorial
Still looks like Autumn to me. Winter officially starts tomorrow.
Still looks like Autumn to me. Winter officially starts tomorrow.
Lake Rotorua
Lake Rotorua

Rotorua is full of beautiful lakes, geothermal sights, Maori cultural centres, and spas. It was still fairly early in the afternoon so we decided to check out another lake in the area before going to the Polynesian Spa to end our time in town. We drove about 10 minutes to Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) where I hung out close to the car to admire the view and everyone else went for a quick walk through the forest.

We've seen more cows than we have sheep
On the ride to Lake Tikitapu. We’ve seen more cows than we have sheep
Lake Tikitapu (this totally looks like BC)
Lake Tikitapu (this totally looks like BC)

We drove to the Polynesian Spa and decided to go into the “adult pools” ($27 NZD = $23.75 CAD). The Polynesian Spa is a geothermal spa that backs on to Lake Rotorua. The adult pool area had several different hot spring pools at different temperatures, ranging from 38-43°C. It was a nice and relaxing way to end our day in Rotorua. There was a Korean tour there at the same time we were, and at one point Tim and I were in a pool with the majority of them and we felt like we were back in Seoul. Too bad we didn’t know any Korean!

Hanging out in the "Priest Spa", named after a Catholic priest who had chronic arthritis and he bathed in these hot springs and was cured.
Hanging out in the “Priest Spa”, named after a Catholic priest who had chronic arthritis and he bathed in these hot springs and was cured.
So many seagulls in flight
So many seagulls in flight
Some of the hot spring water that was off limits
Some of the hot spring water that was off limits

We washed up and left at a good time because a Chinese bus tour came and all the pools were jam packed with people. We spent about an hour and a half at the baths which was a good amount of time.

For dinner we went for Indian food at a restaurant called Indian Star. We saw it yesterday and it was full for of people for an Indian birthday party. We figured if it was good enough for a large Indian birthday party, it must be good! We shared four different types of curries, garlic naan, basmati rice, two mango lassis and a Kingfisher beer for $94.80 NZD = $83.60 CAD. We enjoyed everything we ordered. We were all surprised that we finished everything. I guess we were all hungry!

Garlic naan, two vegetarian curries (Jess and Robin), ,chicken tikka masala , and butter chicken (for Tim and I)
Garlic naan, two vegetarian curries (Jess and Robin), ,chicken tikka masala , and butter chicken (for Tim and I)

After dinner we drove for about 2.5 hours to get to a town called, Waitomo, which is a major tourist attraction for its caves and for Hobbiton (Hobbit and LOTR tours). On the way there, Tim pulled over and we looked at the stars for about 15 minutes (it was really cold out, 5°C!) and it was beautiful. I guess I don’t get that far out away from cities because I haven’t seen that many stars before. I turned around to hug Tim and I missed a shooting star that everyone saw. Oh well…

We arrived at our hotel, which is a historic (old) hotel called, Waitomo Caves Hotel. The hotel looked nice as we drove up to it. It has a lot of character and we were really happy with our two bedroom room ($125 CAD/night). Since Jess and Robin had a larger bed in Auckland, they took the two single beds in the other room while Tim and I get to enjoy the larger bed. I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be a family room, so we got the “parent’s room” and they’re in the children’s bedroom.

Our bed for the night
Our bed for the night

We made some tea and tried some of the other NZ cookies we bought before heading to bed. We’re planning on waking up a bit earlier tomorrow to see what cave tours we can join. We couldn’t book anything online since they required 2 days notice for advanced bookings so we’ll have to go to the visitor centre to see what we can get.

Steps today: 10,000