Exploring the Underground of Waitomo, New Zealand
By Sharon Miller, Staff Writer

It was almost pitch black as I lay back in my inner tube to gaze at the, what seemed to be, billions of little stars glowing a brilliant blue above me.  I could have been coasting down a river, in some canyon anywhere in the world, at midnight, but in reality, I was floating through the underground caves beneath the New Zealand town of Waitomo.  The little blue lights, high above me, were not stars, but glowworms, simply trying to catch their next meal.

The day started with dawn creeping over the horizon, casting a surreal feeling across the landscape.   Watching the early morning fog slowly drift across the green hills and the sun cast its pinkish glow; it was easy to imagine the creatures of Tolkien’s Middle Earth roaming the country side.

Braving the cold air of the New Zealand winter, I pulled a full body wetsuit over my bathing suit.  Preparing to join the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company on their Black Abyss tour, a four hour long adventure through the caves of Waitomo, I hoped to catch a glimpse of the famed glowworms.   Due to the fact that it was winter, and the tourist season had ended, there was only one other girl joining me on the adventure.  Nevertheless, once underground we did not face colder temperatures than the summer guests because the temperature in the caves stays constant, maybe shifting by 2 or 3 degrees as the seasons change.

After a brief introduction to the ropes, carabineers and other tools we would be using, our tour started with a 30 foot abseil into the mouth of the cave.                   Once we both made it into the dark depths of Waitomo, we faced another challenge, zip lining through the cave in the pitch black. Of course, we had headlights which we could have turned on, but the real thrill was in not knowing were you were going.  Luckily, the zip line slowed down near the bottom allowing us to get our feet.

Just below us, the river ambled lazily past, and we could here the splashing of eels swimming in the cold water. As we sat with our legs dangling over the ledge, eating our midmorning snack, we decided it might be prudent to drop a few morsels to the creatures below—knowing full well we were about to join them in the water.

Getting the courage to make the leap was difficult, but after the initial shock of the cold, we were able to climb into our inner tubes, and begin the relaxing float through the cave.  Once again, we turned off our lights, and gazed above us at the eerie glow of the worms.

The glowworms are actually the larvae stage of an insect called the fungus gnat.  They feed by dropping several sticky threads out in the air, similar to a fishing line.  As other insects are attracted to the glow, they get caught in the fibers and the glow worms’ reel them in, just like a fisherman.

All of a sudden, the quiet was broken by a loud slapping sound.  Our guide had taken his inner tube and slapped it on the water, causing all the glowworms to increase their brightness for several seconds.  It was like a fireworks display, only the sparkles did not fade.  The glowworms sense the presence of other insect by feeling the vibrations in the air.  When the vibrations increase dramatically, like they did when the inner tube hit the water, they increase their light, in hopes of attracting the bugs.

Our trip did not consist entirely of lazing about in inner tubes, staring at the glowworms.  There were waterfalls to tube down, smaller caverns to squeeze into and more waterfalls to climb up.  At one point, because there were only two of us on the trip, our guides had us ditch the tubes so we could climb deeper into the caves.  They reasoned that the normal tour takes longer when you have eight people, and we were both young and fairly fit, so we could manage the more difficult spelunking.

As the four hours came to an end, we eventually made our way back to the daylight, squeezing out of an opening far from where we had entered the cave.  The icy air assaulted our wet faces and bodies, which made us all the more thankful for the hot shower, hot chocolate, tomato soup and bagels they had waiting for us back at headquarters.

**All photos by Sharon Miller

Useful Websites

The Legendary Blackwater

Rafting Company

www.blackwaterrafting.co.nz

The Lost World Abseil

www.waitomo.co.nz/index.html

Waitomo Tourism

http://tourism.waitomo.govt.nz

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