Another hot day with
temp about 23oC, we left our penguin-less beach campsite and
continued north, stopping to see the pretty Bay with the Three
Sisters Rocks, well only saw two and half!
On to Waitomo Caves. There
are three caves here to visit but we just wanted to do the Glowworm
caves tour $51 each.
The tour leads you past
stalactites and stalagmites into a large cavern – the Cathedral.
The highlight comes at the tour's end when we boarded a boat and
swung off into the river. Drifting in total darkness our eyes became
accustomed to the dark we saw a Milky Way of little lights
surrounding us – these are the glowworms.
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| NO PHOTOS ALLOWED SO HAD TO PHOTO THIS BUT ITS TRUE TO LIFE! |
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| THE SECOND HALF OF OUR GROUP EMERGING FROM THE CAVE |
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| OUR BOAT GOING BACK INTO CAVE |
A bit of useless
information which I thought was quite sad for the glowworm!
GLOWWORM MAGIC
Glowworms are the
larvae of the fungus gnat. The larvae glowworm has luminescent organs
that produce a soft greenish light. Living in a sort of hammock
suspended from an overhang it weaves sticky threads that trail down
and catch unwary insects attracted by its light.
When an insect flies
towards the light it gets stuck in the threads, the glowworm just has
to reel it in.
The larval stage lasts
about 6-9 months, depending on how much food the glowworm gets.
When it has grown to
about the size of a matchstick it goes into a pupa stage much like a
cocoon . The adult fungus gnat emerges about 2 weeks later. The adult
insect doesn't live very long because it doesn't have a mouth.
It emerges, mates, lays
eggs and dies all within about 2 or 3 days.
The sticky eggs laid in
groups of 50 or 60 hatch in about 3 weeks to become larval glowworms.
So now you're all
experts on glowworms!
This part of the tour
was mesmerizing, we had to be quiet, no lights at all as we glided
beneath the glowworm spectacle! Just amazing!
We drove on to see the
Mangapohue Natural Bridge which was another awesome wonder and
finally to the superb Marokopa Falls. A special day of natural
wonders in our beautiful world!
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| MANGAPOHUE NATURAL BRIDGE |
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| MANGAPOHUE NATURAL BRIDGE - I AM HERE CAN YOU SEE ME? |
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| MAROKOPA FALLS |
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| THREE SISTERS ROCKS - WELL TWO AND A HALF ON VIEW! |
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