Raglan and Waitomo

We landed in Auckland after our overnight flight to begin our 2013 adventure in New Zealand.  We drove through the beautiful green rolling hills in the farm country of Waikato to the town of Raglan.  Raglan is a beach community with long black sand beaches that are renowned for surfing.

Raglan Hotel

Deck off our Raglan bach

On our second day, we decided to walk to Bridal Veil Falls.  The short walk wound through the forest to the 180 foot Bridal Veil Falls.

walk to Bridal Veil

notice the rainbow

We spent a day in Hamilton and visited Hamilton Gardens.  These are two of our favorites from the many gardens.

Indian Garden

Italian Renaissance Garden

We took a tour with Spellbound Tours of Waitomo Caves.  We highly recommend Spellbound over other tours (We had a tour of over 3 hours with only 12 people).  The highlight was the raft ride with thousands and thousands of glow worms on the cave ceiling.  Glow worms emit a soft blue-green light through a process termed bioluminescence.  The light attracts insects which are caught in threads that glow worms suspend from the ceiling.  Once your eyes adjust to the low light, you begin to see more and more.  The amazing experience of  gliding on the water and looking up at the tiny specks of light is something to remember.  It is like a clear night sky filled with stars.  

entrance to a dry cave 

G walking through the cave

our pittance of a photo of the glow worm cave ceiling

silky threads used to capture insects

harmless cave weta

Bones of extinct moa.  This bird was hunted to extinction 600 years ago.  They grew up to 12 feet tall.

picture supplied by Spellbound Tours

picture supplied by Spellbound Tours

picture supplied by Spellbound Tours

picture supplied by Spellbound Tours