Two days of fun

I have returned from two days of seeing more of beautiful NZ. I have to get the card reader from Rainer and as soon as I do I will be able to post some of the pictures I took. We first visited the Glow Worm caves...WOW!! What an amazing adventure...we went deep into a cave, saw lots of stalactites and stalagmites. It was a bit unnerving when the guide pointed out a very large piece of the cave "ceiling" that came down during the earth quake a few months back. The caves are located in Waitomo which means "Water entering a hole in the ground" the river that carved out those caves still runs through it. Deep in the darkness of the cave (they don't shed much light on the subject because of the glow worms) you get into a boat and drift within the grotto. All across the ceiling it appears like the milky way, but that is the Larva of newly hatched eggs. They put down strands of sticky web to catch insects and over a 9 month period they emit a visible light and grow to the size of a matchstick. Adults have no mouth and die within a few day after mating. The caves they dwell in are beautiful unto themselves, but to see these creatures in their environment was spectacular.

Those little dots are the glow worms.

The strands hanging down are the

webs they use to catch insects.

Then it was off to Rotorua another amazing place that is  on top of  volcanic hot springs. Of course it doesn't smell all that pretty (sulfur smell of rotten eggs) but after a while you really don't notice.

The water is hot and smelly, you can see a geyser in the background. It doesn't stop the wild life from enjoying the warm water.

Black swans of Rotorura.

We visited Rainbow Springs and had a wonderful time.  We basically had the entire park to ourselves at night time when they allow you in to see the Kiwi's looking for food (they hunt at night) What a delightful time we had with them.

I got to pet this one. The kiwi's are endangered because they cannot fly, leaving them vulnerable to cats, dogs and any other critter that would eat them. The park was  lit up like a Fairy Tale at night.

It was just beautiful and something I would recommend to anyone visiting NZ. We went back the next day to yet another adventure...I even took part in a bird show LOL hey don't laugh, I won a Kiwi for my participation. WE also went for a boat ride that ended with Rainer and I going over the edge. 

 Not for the faint of heart. Drifting along to the evolution of NZ and then suddenly they throw you out and down you plunge. I think the expression on our faces says it all. Wishing you all a Happy Day..See you tomorrow.