This is the most magical tourist spot in New Zealand. There are caves with worms that can glow in the dark. The place is Glowworm Cave in Waitomo, New Zealand. The distance is 200 km from Auckland or 2.5 hours drive. detikTravel invited invited by Emirates to visit there a few weeks ago.
There are 3 caves there, namely Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave. The most favorite are Waitomo and Ruakuri. Combo ticket prices for these 2 caves are NZD 94 (Rp. 901 thousand) for adults and NZD 35 (Rp. 335 thousand) for children. The duration of this tour is 3 hours.
Waitomo Glowworm Caves were first explored in 1887 by Fred Mace from England and Maori chief named Tane Tinorau. They use candles accompanied by a stream going underground.
Inside the cave, they saw a miracle, in the form of bright spots in the dark. It can turn on the lights, published worms that can ignite. The latin name of this worm is Arachnocampa luminosa.
"Luminosa because it can ignite, and arachnocampa because this worm is like a spider, can bring out threads of snares," said Eliza, our guide.
We brought him first to Ruakuri Cave. Ruakuri Cave is given the symbol of 2 dogs, from Maori legend if I found two dogs. This cave was opened as a tourist spot in New Zealand since July 28, 2005 and was inaugurated by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
The entrance is so dramatic, consisting of a spiral into the earth about 20 meters. From there we explored this cave full of stalactites and stalagmites. "All backpacks are placed in front of the body, do not place the stalagmite and stalactite because it takes millions of years to grow," said Liz. Wow, if the stalagmite has been beaten in Indonesia into natural gamelan.
The temperature inside the cave is quite cold. We indeed entered into a cave, I was wearing a jacket. Amazingly, all tracks have been trimmed so that it makes it easier for tourists to walk. The lights inside the cave are only turned on by the coming compilation of tourists. "This glowworm can't get a lot of light. This light regulates them. If you want photos, only in my command," said Liz.
The part where this magic worm grows, is left completely dark. The guide is only armed with a flashlight and tourists only follow the lights mounted on the side of the track. In the cave of darkness, then we saw thousands of blue lights. "Now, how about Glowworm! The bright blue color is the stomach that is digesting food," said Liz. While tourists like to mumble in awe. Woooowww .....!
Lizihkanot is the worm colony closest to us and it appears that the threads are opened and look sticky and shiny. It is with threads like spiders that glowworng traps prey, small flying insects that also live in the cave. "These insects think this is a star in the sky. Then they fly to the ceiling of the cave and get caught in glowworm thread and then eaten," said Liz.
Satisfied at Ruakuri Cave, then we moved to Glowworm Cave. But there the rules are strict. You can't take pictures again! This is to maintain the glowworm habitat. Indeed, there are far more in this cave than Ruakuri Cave.
Inside the cave there is an underground river. We queued up in the dark to ride a boat containing dozens of people. The guide controls this boat with a mine in the dark. Must be decent, the scenery is far more dramatic.
There may be millions of glowworms in this cave. All the tourists on one ship were silent. I'm also out of words. Fantastic! The scenery is like a starry night sky, but this is a worm that is ignited. This underground river trip ended with getting out of the cave and we got off the boat. Glowworm Cave does offer wonders. This is really a tourist place in New Zealand that you must visit.
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