8-9-19 - Glowworm Caves revealed and insane black water rafting
/Day 55.
Today is a big day trip to the Glowworm Caves in Waitomo. We start with a spelunking expedition of the Ruakuri Cave. Our guide Allister is awesome – super knowledgeable and passionate about the history and science of the caves. The caves started forming over 1 million years ago. To put it context, he tells us that the stalagmites that grow from the ceiling add 1 cm every 100 years.
Unfortunately, Europeans who came in the 1880s discovered the caves and turned it into a tourist attraction. The guides would let tourist snap off the stalagmites as souvenirs for a few shillings. Pretty unbelievable, given it takes half a million years to grow that souvenir. The government ended up stepping in and claiming possession of the caves and shut them down to the public to preserve them. The caves only re-opened in 2005 after being closed for more than 100 years.
As we trek deeper and deeper into the caves, little shining greenish dots start to light up the cave ceilings and we have found the glowworms. Allister tells us the story of the glowworms. First, they are not actually worms – but more akin to maggots at this stage. Second, we learn that glowworms inflict one of the most painful, brutal deaths on their prey in the world (actually made National Geographic’s Top 10 list of most brutal deaths). They spin these long, sticky strings that hang from the cave ceiling. The water insects that hatch fly towards the light and get stuck in the strings. The glowworm then drills a hole in the insects head and vomit acid through the hole dissolving the insects insides while it’s still alive. After eating the insect, it is the excrement they excrete that is what glows in the dark.
Allister points out that it might not go over so well in the tourist brochures to maket the trip as the more accurate description of seeing Glow Maggots and their Glow S**t. Never-the-less, it is an amazingly beautiful display if you can put the story of what’s happening out of your mind. Allister tells us about how US politics is heavily covered in New Zeleand and that he likely know more about our elections, government and electoral college and I don’t doubt that he does.
After a lunch snack, the glowworm education turns to glowworm adventure. We are going black water rafting which is rafting in pitch black caves resulting in black water. John says its one of the few places in the world where you can do black water rafting. I’m always up for adventure but Leanne has read the brochure and says that she doesn’t think it would be her type of adventure so she goes on a tamer boat ride while the rest of us go on our adventure.
After getting fitted in a super thick triple layer wetsuit to protect against the freezing water, we go on a bus to a section of the river flowing outside the cave. We are informed that we will have to jump backwards on our tube off cliffs in the cave into the river below so we need to practice our jumps here first. You’ve got to be kidding me. Their “practice” jump is 8 feet high over the river. You stand on the edge, facing away from the water with the tube over your butt and just in case you have any hesitation, the guide pushes your shoulder back while sweeping under and kicking your legs out from under you sending you flying out and down eight feet where your tube slams into the water and water rushes up your nose.
“Is it too late to exit and refund?” I’m wondering to myself. I’m guessing everyone on the tour is pretty rattled but no-one wants to be the first to chicken out. Just to enter the cave requires some pretty crazy tactical maneuvering. I still don’t really know how to describe the adventure. It was 3 hours of potential hospital, trip-ending risk after risk. At one point, Ashley slips off a rock and gets swept into the wrong part of the river. Luckily the guides manage to get her dragged to the side but what if they hadn’t? On the actual 8 foot jump in the cave, my tube goes down into the water and shoots me up with my head just missing smashing into the top of the cave which is only 2-3 feet above the water level.
New Zealand must have absolutely zero liability legal risk – I’m guessing that there must be a law that you can’t sue someone for getting hurt no matter what the circumstances. I ask the guides how many people get injured on the tour. The one younger woman says “oh, it’s 20% I was just looking at my statistics this morning.” She says it totally deadpan seriously but I’m thinking she has to be having fun with me. 20% is crazy high but then again I might just believe it. I respond back with “with seven of us not getting hurt today, we helped lower your average.”
We meet up with Leanne. When I left her, I said “when you see us again, I’m going to be like that was totally awesome and you totally could have done it.” I’ve now revised my rhetoric saying “oh my God, that was totally awesome and you never would have made it.” Yes Leanne is more than happy to hear she made the right decision.
On the way home we stop at the Kiwi Nature Center where we catch the Kiwi’s feeding. They are New Zealand’s national bird and the people refer to themselves as Kiwi’s (but not in a derogatory way). Kiwi’s are nocturnal so they the enclose is dark for minimal light but enough that we are able to see one eat while we listening to an older gentleman tells us every possible fact about kiwi birds we could ever imagine.
