CAVING IN NEW ZEALAND, UNIMAGINABLE SIGHTS

One of my earliest memories of New Zealand is of a weekend adventure we had not far from home. As I guess you all are aware, from my previous attempts, at describing some of the times we had, while travelling with work, over 30 year. We spent much of our free time exploring and investigating the places that we lived and worked in. For the most part, each and every one of our destinations, to this point, had been spectacular.

New Zealand was no exception. We were captivated by its beauty from the time of our arrival. After the hustle and bustle of Japan, California and the wildness of Africa, New Zealand was a chance to slow down and enjoy a more tranquil way of life. However, it was far from boring and offered as much excitement as one could handle. Just in a little calmer, more peaceful and safer manner. It truly was as beautiful and welcoming as the rest of the world had been lead to believe.

“Get on with it you say?” “Cut the crap and the Kumbaya stuff that you profess to hate”. Ok, one fine Saturday in early 1990, Deysi decided she would take us on a trip to see the Waitomo Caves. Since exploring the Cango Caves in South Africa, Deysi had developed a real interest in looking into and snooping around caves. I found it interesting, but always felt some sort of apprehension when wandering around underground.

The girls didn’t seem to mind. These spectacular features were located about 150km straight west of Rotorua towards the west side of the North Island. This drive took at least 2 hours, because of the fact that there was no direct route to the west from where we lived. Having arrived at the caves in mid morning we signed up for a tour. Nothing in my life, to this point, had ever prepared me for this. . . . .

The first thing you notice when entering these caves was, once again, the size of the underground cathedral like rooms and the eeriness of being somewhere completely silent and still. We signed up for a walking tour that included a boat trip. Boat you say? In a cave? Yup after a quite long walk where we seemed to be going downward from one level to another, we arrived at a small boat launch on an underground lake in a cavern. It appeared to be about 100 meters/yards across and maybe 15 meters/45 ft. high. It was in this boat where I learned some very startling things and destroyed a myth that I had developed for myself over time.

Once in the boat, the guide is telling us that this cave (and a few other such places, only in NZ) is the ONLY place where “GLOW WORMS” are found in the world. I’m like “ya, right, bullshit” but after an elbow in the ribs, I stifle any further comment. He says “now will everyone, please extinguish their lights”. We fell into utter 100%, stomach of the black cat at midnight, darkness. You could not see your hand in front of your eyes. Spooky! You think? Of a sudden the ceiling was lit by millions of tiny pinpricks of a blue/white light. Glow worms! I had never seen anything like this in my life.

Up to that point, I assumed that Glow Worms were the foot long, green plush worm shaped toys, that were sold by Disneyland, and that glowed when you squeezed them. I truly thought that they were something just invented by Disneyland to use in “It’s a Small World” and sell to children. Unbelievable, looking up towards the roof of this cavern was like looking up to the Milky Way on a clear, dark night. I was mesmerized, it was enchanting. Suddenly, I had just experienced a learning moment that completely wiped out an understanding that I had held for years. I could have stayed there for hours. It was surreal. Ange took a lot from this tour. As we left she asked “mommy, so what means all those little lights?”