Auckland Diaries: Glow Worm Caves, Farm Tour, Maori show, Geysers & Mud Pools

When I was younger, my travel itineraries were mostly cosmopolitan places.  Then later on, I was fascinated by old architecture and old, quaint villages.   Then lately, I realized I am drawn to nature and I am not talking about beaches but gardens, parks, geysers, caves!  Not sure if I was just awestruck when I visited Iceland last year or is this just a sign of growing old?  😜😂

When I was in my 20s, you won't even find a destination like New Zealand on my list.  In the rare times someone suggested it, I would say "but you'll only see cows and sheep there".   But guess what?  New Zealand became part of my list last year and last month, I finally went there.  And guess what again? While I was in New Zealand, I actually signed up for a farm tour to see cows and sheep! 😂😂

The city I visited was Auckland and below was my first glimpse. 😍

And here was my room at the Grand Millennium.

I decided to stay in a hotel coz I was traveling solo. Most tours do pick-ups and drop-offs in city hotels, this way, I don't have to worry about rushing in the morning and missing the tour bus if I get lost.

Here's the view from my window. The hotel is located in the CBD area and you could easily walk to the key points of interest such as museums, parks, galleries, theaters, market, malls and the harbor.

I arrived in Auckland late in the afternoon so I decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the CBD area but the problem was - establishments close by 5:30pm to 6:00pm.  That's not so easy for us who are used to establishments that are open until 9pm or 10pm! 😆

Oh, I forgot to mention, I was so unprepared for this trip.  I almost didn't make it.  My mom was sick the week before my trip and I wasn't sure if she'll get well on time.  Since I didn't want to get stressed  each day the trip came nearer, I already accepted the reality that I will have to forego it.  Goodbye, non-rebookable tickets and hotel vouchers. 😅   

But in the nick of time, she got well.  I rushed to back to Manila and had only 2 hours to pack and make it to my flight.  I was dead tired and knocked out during the flight.  Haha.... 

Since I didn't expect my trip would push through, I didn't have any itinerary at all! 😬  So on my first night when I had nowhere to go coz establishments were closed already, I googled on what I would do the next day.   

It was a choice between Hobbiton -Waitomo Tour and Waitomo-Rotorua Tour.    Although I am an LOTR fan, I opted to pick the latter coz when I was in Reykjavik, I joined a GOT tour and in hindsight, I realized I should have gone to see more natural resources. But if it was a studio where props and movie sets are in one place like Universal Studios' Harry Potter Studios, that's a different story.   Haha... 😜

So what is there to see in the Waitomo and Rotorua Tour?  Here are some highlights:

Waitomo Caves.  "Wai" is the Maori word for water and "toro" for hole in the ground.    Waitomo is famous for its glow worm caves - yes, literally, there are worms that glow inside the caves.    Why do this worm's tail glow? They refer it as bioluminescence - in simple terms, the worm emits some kind of chemical and this chemical when combined with oxygen reacts by producing a blue glow.  

The worms are carnivores but how do they attract their prey?  Mosquitoes are attracted to the light coz they think it would lead them to the exit but when they come near, they are caught by the worm's sticky mucus hanging like a thread from the ceiling.

Picture-taking isn't allowed inside the caves so as not to disturb the worms so here's a photo I got from Grayline Tours' website, the tour which I joined.  But the color of the glow which I saw was more bluish white (not green as seen in the photo).  It's like seeing tiny stars inside a pitch-black cave.   

Source:  Grayline Tours

Other than learning about glow worms, you'll also learn a lot about stalactites and stalagmites at the Aranui Cave and Ruakiri Cave.  For example, do you know how stalactites and stalagmites are formed? I'm sure I've taken up this in science class but it got purged from my memory already.  Haha...  

How are they formed?  When water seeps through the ground into a cave, it dissolves a mineral called calcite (a building block of limestone).  The dripping water leaves traces of calcite which accumulates in the ceiling forming a stalactite.  As water continuously seeps through the ground, water from the stalactite drops on the floor and eventually forms a stalagmite.  That's why usually, stalactites and stalagmites are found in pairs and eventually they are joined to form a pillar.     But their formation doesn't happen fast.  It takes 100 years to form about 1 cm high according to our tour guide! 😮

You know when did the limestone formations at the Waitomo Caves believed to have started?  30 Million years ago! 😮😮

From Waitomo, it's a long ride to Rotorua, 2 hours I think.   The tour operator handed out packed lunch and here's what we got. Yum!

I tried to stay awake during the ride coz it's so scenic. Lots of rolling hills.  I recalled that when I visited Batanes, the foreign tourists I've met there always compared Batanes to New Zealand.  Since I saw Batanes first, I could say - oh, New Zealand looks like Batanes!  😂   

Check out the photos I took along the way to Rotorua before I dozed off to sleep. 💤 

Agrodome.  We watched a farmer shear a sheep.  Most of us felt sad for the sheep but the farmer said, we shouldn't coz it would grow back in a few months.   Shearing is like the sheep's version of a haircut, he shared.

BTW, do you know how fast can a farmer shear a sheep?  Average of 2 minutes!  But for this demo, it took this farmer 3 minutes as he tried to engage us in conversation while shearing.

Then we watched how a sheep dog herds sheep.  See that black & white sheep dog?  In real action, the farmer said the dog could herd up to 1,000 sheep. Wow.    

After that, we went on a farm tour. Our trailer was attached to this big tractor-  

Here are some of the farm animals we saw - 

And of course, there were lots of sheep!  So cute.

And we fed them that's why they gathered around us.  😊

Te Puia.  We watched a Maori cultural show.   Maoris are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.  The performers during the show are Maoris though most of them have mixed blood already as inter-marriage is now common.  The Maori performers demonstrated to us the Maori tradition on how stranger tribes declare alliance (by accepting a leaf offering) or war (if the leaf is not taken).  

And they also demonstrated to us on how to do the Maori greeting called Hong.   Hongi serves the same purpose as a handshake except that it doesn't make use of hands but the face. You press one's nose and forehead with that of another person 2 times - could be male to male, female to female, male to female.   Make sure it's just 2 coz 3 times, they say, is for marriage. 😍

Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley.  This is where you'll see the famous Pohutu geyser, as well as fumaroles (openings in volcanic areas that emit steam and gases), and boiling mud pools.   Check these out -

Pohutu geyser from a distance

Pohutu Geyser up close

 The Pohutu Geyser erupts up to 30 meters high and it's described as the the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere.  But it erupts only once or twice every hour so it's a bit hard to time its eruption.

BTW, did you know that there are only over a thousand of geysers in the world?   So if you're in a place where there's one, don't take it for granted. :)

The geysers taken from the viewing deck at the back 

Check out this short videoclip I took at the Thermal Valley - 

Fumaroles 

See the the photo below?  That's literally a hot seat! The weather was cold in Auckland - around 12°C - and I found comfort seating on this naturally-heated seat for a few minutes.

Boiling Mud pools

See and hear the boiling of the mud in this short videoclip I took.

There's also a Kiwi sanctuary in the area and we dropped by to see them.   Apparently, they are nocturnal animals and they are very territorial which means they are usually in twos - only one male and one female in a territory.  Even when they have kids, the kids eventually have to find their own territory.   And since they are nocturnal, the sanctuary is in total darkness so instead of going inside where we probably won't be able to see anything anyway, we just watched one kiwi visible through night vision lens over a live CCTV.  The other kiwi was nowhere insight and was probably inside its cubby hole.

Here's how a kiwi looks like - its silhouette is one of New Zealand's popular symbols.

Kiwi (Source)

The tourist bus dropped me off my hotel past 8pm already (it was like a 4-hour drive from Rotorua to Auckland) so I just had dinner at the hotel. I asked for the waiter's favorite dish and he said the mussels but he warned me it's a lot coz it's 1 kilo.

But guess what?  I finished the entire kilo of mussels! 😂

The Waitomo-Roturua tour costs about USD225.  But when booking online tours, try to book early. If you're booking a day before, try to make it during work hours coz when you book last minute e.g. 10pm for a tour the following morning, there's a chance your name won't be in the printed list.  And even if you have an e-voucher, some personnel still rely on the printed list as the official list so additional verification with the head office has to be made.

BTW, I learned a Maori word during the tour - Kia Ora - it's probably the most popular Maori phrase.  What does Kia Ora mean?      Have life, be well/ be healthy.   It could also be used as a greeting of farewell or thank you.   But I like the original meaning better. So with this, I say "Kia Ora"! 😊