Ruakuri Cave

Our last adventure of the day was definitely the best.  We took an underground rafting/caving trip 65 meters deep into the earth.  Basically, you put on a wetsuit (this was the hardest part), a helmet with a lantern, grab a tube and follow the guides into the cave.  I was a little afraid at first but it was AWESOME!!!  The caves are completely black except for the tiny glowworms that dot the roof of the cave that varies in height from a couple of meters to 65 meters or more. Glowworms only live in New Zealand so this was a rare opportunity to see these little creatures.  And you can only see them when the lanterns are off so they don't let you have the lanterns on for very much of the trip.  Sometimes you are hiking through shallow water carrying the tube, other times you are floating along in the cold water looking up and wondering what's in the water below you and sometimes you are jumping backwards from a waterfall into a pool below you that you can't really see because of the darkness.  This is definitely one of the coolest experiences we have ever had and I recommend it if you ever make it over here.  You can't take a camera in there and we opted not to buy the $20 CD with bad photos so you'll have to use your imagination on this one.

The Morepork sign is just here because I thought it was cute and thought Beth would like the name.  :)