After driving from Hamilton, we decided to take a country road to the Waitomo caves. We arrived late morning after negotiating the left hand side of the road! The tour of the caves was interesting. The caves are limestone, form stalagmites and stalactites and are sacred to the local Maori caretakers so no photos are allowed except at the entrance and exit. The boat ride was a quiet float in the caves and suddenly the glow worms showed their lights like a starry sky about 5 meters above us. They are related to spiders but are the larva stage of a fly. They drop down 8 - 10 inch strings of sticky thread to catch flies and othe insects including other glow worms as they are cannibalistic. Headed off to see Val and George in Putaruru arriving mid afternoon. We went for a hike to the Blue spring, which is formed from water that takes 20-50 years to percolate through the soil. It is crystal clear, a nice blue and has brown trout swimming in the steam. A nice hike through the cattle farm. Val took us to a local cheese producer for cow, sheep, goat and bison cheese. All very tasty especially with a nice Gewurtztraminer. We enjoyed a great dinner and more wine and hit the hay late. (I know Val from a trek to Nepal in 2004.) After breakfast we doddled and left near noon to head to Rotorua. We bbq'd some lamb, veggies and enjoyed a pleasant Cabernet Sauvignon. Tomorrow we head to a geyser and then on to Taupo, a Maori center. Unfortunately I have discovered that the iPad does not work with blogspot to upload photos for some reason! Photos will be added when I have a pc to access.
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