Into the Earth

The 9th day of the Wilcox Family North Island adventure was a rather large one, so I'll break it up into the two activities. After packing up we once more traversed the twisting roads of New Zealand, going over farmed hills and great forested mountains and swollen rivers. This eventually landed us in Waitomo, and area rich in limestone caves and one of the few places where you can see glow worms in large abundances. There were a number of caves to visit but after the great experience we had last time, we returned to the Ruakuri caves. Once again Mary-Ellen and I found ourselves descending the spiral ramp into the world of Spelunking, this time with Family in tow!

Of course, for Dad this was a spectacular chance to take pictures, so many unique rock formations in such a small area. Stalactites, curtains, and popcorn were some of the more prominent ones (in order below).

The intricate beauty of the place is truly amazing, and the diversity of morphologies within the limestone rocks was in itself worth the trip. There were however, glow worms further down and in much larger numbers than the last time we ventured below. The starlight display of lights among the stalactites is created by a chemical reaction in the feces of these unusual creatures. We also got to see up close the actual animals, lying in wait for tiny mosquitoes to fly into their sticky strings.

The dark creature in the centre of the image is the larval form of the glow worm.

The rock that makes up the cave was created underwater from years of calcium rich mud compacting under the weight of new layers of mud above, and occasionally seperated by layers of other materials, such as dark volcanic sediments, creating the layered affect of the rock wall. Although these rocks have been lifted up and out of the ocean, it is water that continues to reshape them, creating the caves themselves and in the right circumstances, transforming these caves into galleries of rock formations.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of people on he tour and we often ended up stuck between people and unable to talk to much, but everyone seemed to really enjoy it. It was a very unique experience, one they will keep with them. And all of this was made possible by some carbon dioxide and a few drops of water, over thousand of years of course.