This morning we have been joined by our friends Tina and John from Front Beach, and after a cup of coffee with Kay and Richard we decided to head off to explore the Waipu Caves. None of us had been there before.
The caves that we went to are part of a Farm Park, and cave tours are a new initiative for them – they only started doing the tours in February of this year. The lovely Nina was our guide, and she was very knowledgeable. We had all been through other caves before but Nina was able to share information that we had not heard before. She was also happy to let us meander at our own pace.
The rock formations and bush leading up to the cave entrance were stunning.
The cave system was quite large and easy to access. The Farm Park had laid concrete paths throughout so we didn’t get wet feet, and they were well organised with torches for each of us. From the moment we entered the cave we were greeted with hundreds of stalactites.
There were also big flow forms (the more bulbous looking outcrops made by water leaking over the surface of the limestone instead of through a “straw” that forms stallectites).
We spent about an hour ambling through the caves, and the last part of that was with our lights either turned off or covered up, which enabled us to see the myriad of glow worms on the ceiling of the cave system. Nina was able to tell us a lot about glow worms, how they feed, and how they use the byproducts of that food to provide an enzyme that they use to create the light in their “tails”.
It was a lovely way to spend part of an afternoon, and we would recommend others to experience the tour.
Away From Home NZ 