Today we left for Waitomo. On the way we visited Karangahake Gorge- scenic reserve, which has old mines and railways. We done the Windows Walk following mine tramways through tunnels and caves in the pitch black, then we crossed the gorge on a shaky wooden bridge. The 'windows' being where miners would chuck the bad gold out into the Ohinemuri river.
We had a few stop offs to look at the lovely NZ scenery and stopped for lunch (maccers) at a little place called Otorohanga. Arrived in Waitomo where we had booked to go cave tubing and cave walking, by a company called Black Water Rafting and our tour was called the Black Labrynth. It lasted 3 hours and we worked our way 65m underground through tunnels and water. We had our tubes (rubber rings) and sailed down the pitch black caves with only light being the millions of glowworms above our heads. We climbed on our knees through tight tunnels and jumped down waterfalls. We seen stalactites and stalagmites, coral and even an eel, and walked through rushing water up to our waists. But the glowworms were amazing so bright- the worlds best LED lighting. We had a great time it was such an amazing experience (but we will never be able to just visit a normal cave again after doing that). So the place we are is called Waitomo (most NZ names are from Maori) and it means 'Wai'- water, 'tomo'- cave. At night we met a few other people from the bus in the pub and then we walked to see more glowworms in the forest.
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