Waitomo Caves Village

Why-TOW-moh.

It's famous for its glow worm caves. The worms are the larval stage of a type of fly, which means they are not worms at all, but rather .... maggots! Obviously, "glow maggots" doesn't have marketing appeal, so the alternative has become common parlance.

The larvae glow is the result of their waste matter being chemically burned. Pretty neat trick, that.

The Magic Bus only allows for one 3-hour tour before moving on to Rotorua, but I stayed overnight so I could do more. It was worth it. The sacrifice was that there is only a small market in Waitomo Village, as the main town of Waitomo is 15 Km away. So food is expensive and the choices very limited. However, Curly's Bar and Grill was a great alternative, with burger and a side salad (the best salad I've had in NZ, by the way) at $8.50 - $9.50, and shots of Heaven Hill bourbon (really nice on the rocks) only $3.80. Cheaper than beer!

The first tour was called "black water rafting" because (duh!) it's dark in the cave. After donning wetsuits and helmets, you pick out an inner tube ...

... walk down a few (?) stairs...

... and enter the cave (the representation from the CD of slides you can buy afterwards).

The map shows a side-trip that required crawling through a narrow tunnel into a stream before standing up again to view a waterfall.

In the first large room, there is a large stalactite that's nicknamed the "foot vessel," because it resembles an urn with a foot for its base.

Next, we floated in our tubes before setting up to fall backwards over a waterfall - the safest way to do it. Near the end of the trip, there was a slide, which was a longer drop but forward-facing, so less intimidating.

Caves breathe. That is, the air either flows inward or outward, depending on climactic conditions both inside and outside the cave. Therefore, insects venture into the cave and quickly become disoriented and lost. The glow maggots, er, worms, construct threads of silk covered with a sticky substance, one worm creating dozens of threads. The lost insects are attracted to the glow on the ceiling and get trapped in the threads. The worm then pulls up the thread and that's the end of that particular insect.

The second tour was with a company called Spellbound, founded by the man who originally started offering guided cave tours. The locals thought he was a nutball, but it has grown to a major industry with no fewer than 4 tour companies operating, serving over 30,000 guests a year each. At $100+ per person, you do the math. Spellbound is the best, IMHO.

Here are a couple of pretty good pics of the glow worms that I took in the second cave tour, which actually took us into 2 caves and kept us dry the whole time. The little buggers live inside a slime tube, and you can see a cave weta (locust-like insect that is a bit bigger and has a pretty good bite if it feels threatened).

Next up - Rotorua.

Paihia, Matauri Bay, and Cape Reinga

Ah, the peaceful calm of a small town. On the beach.

Paihia is the location for a monument to the Treaty of Waitangi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi

This treaty ended formal fighting between the European settlers and the Maiori people, but disputes over interpretation continue even to this day. The treaty granted the Maori specific land rights and (supposed) compensation, and most importantly granted them British citizenship.

The local tribe has developed a cultural center, includinging an elaborately carved Wharenui (far -eh-NEW-ee), or meeting house.

No food or drink is allowed inside, and everyone must remove their shoes before entering. There is an elaborate welcoming ceremony that a group of actors presented to us on the tour I took, and it was both impressive and moving to hear the story of the land once again from the Maori point of view. Europeans were great conquerers and left many kinds of scars.

This is the immense flagpole from which the national flag is flown at the peak, with a Maori flag and banner flown from the lower arms.

Just in front of the smaller, pyrimidal island at the left center of this photo lies the Rainbow Warrior, at about 28 meters. Matauri Bay.

This wetsuit sure makes me look chunky, doesn't it?

Lunch on an island sancuary for the kiwi. The Warrior rests just off to the left and way to the left is the reef we dove in the afternoon.

One of my goals was to get as far north on the North Island as I could. Cape Reinga is the place. In truth, there is another peninsula that is about 1/4 of a mile further north, but it's a very long hike from the nearest road. This was a special tour included in the Magic Bus Spirit of New Zealand package.

The kiwi mascot/good luck charm my friend gave me acquired a traveling companion or "mate," as the locals say, at the Parliament Building gift shop in Wellington. A spotted kiwi. They had a hard time standing up in the wind up here, for this is where the Pacific meets the Tasman Sea, and it is always windy and the waters always turbulent.

This signpost was not vandalized.

Although it was sunny and quite warm at Cape Reinga (almost 90 degrees!), it clouded over as we drove back to Paihia. Here we are going back to the bus on 90 Mile Beach. This stretch of coastline is very popular for fishing, but absolutely deadly for swimming due to the severe undertow. The beach was misnamed (by a European, of course) and has been surveyed to be 90 kilometers long (about 60 miles). And it technically isn't a beach but rather "coastline" because it is not safe for swimming. It is an official motorway and takes an hour to safely drive it. We were staying ahead of the incoming tide, and it was fun to hear the driver tell tales of people who tried camping overnight in vans only to watch them get swept out to sea and completely wrecked.

My feet in the Tasman Sea. Just after this picture was taken, a so-called "rogue wave" soaked me to my knees. That's why it's not safe to swim here.

Auckland

The Sky Tower is the imposing icon of Auckland, and the tallest free-standing structure in the southern hemisphere at 328 meters (1076+ feet). The bungy jump is the tallest in the world, at 192 meters or 693 feet. In my next lifetime, I promise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Tower

Auckland and Wellington battled it out to be the capitol city, in a manner similar to Australia's Sydney and Melbourne. Unlike Australia, which settled on a capitol built in a location in between these two cities, New Zealand simply decided based on equity: Wellington is about in the middle of the country (setting aside, for the purposes of agreement, the fact that there is a strait separating the two islands).

Auckland hosts about 1.5 million people, which is 1/3 of the country's entire population. Less than 50% of the population is of European descent. Lots and lots of Asians and Polynesians emigrated here. In fact, Auckland boasts the largest population of Polynesians in the world. There just isn't enough work in Polynesia, plus many nations have tested nuclear weapons on or near to settled island, thus making life a true hell for the native peoples (high cancer rates, contamination preventing cultivation or fishing, to name but two). In some cases, whole island populations were moved out in order to make room for the bomb (remember Bikini Atoll?).

Which brings me to the 1980's, when a protest movement arose in NZ and the South Pacific, to ban both nuclear testing and the entry of nuclear powered or nuclear armed vessels into local harbors. It succeded because one by one, New Zealand cities voted to be nuclear-free, thus forcing the central government to pass national legislation. But not until several nasty incidents occurred, including the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor by the French intelligence agency (causing the death of the ship's photographer, who was not supposed to be on board). The Warrior was subsequently refloated but could not be repaired economically. It was moved and scuttled in Matauri Bay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

I was privileged to dive the Warrior, and enter it's hull for a peek into the dark interior - full of fish! More on that in the next installment.

Auckland has a harbor bridge, bit it isn't as tall as that in Sydney. It has fireworks on New Year's and Guy Fawkes Day (and maybe other days), and the locals are a little bit defensive when people comment on it's lack of spectacle. You can climb it, also.

You can bungy from it - after all, the sport was invented in New Zealand and these nutballs bungy from anything taller than a wardrobe (chest of drawers to us Colonials). Nice of them to warn the boats, don't you think? Who warns the jumpers?????

There are 3 types of jump from the bridge: The regular, one where your hands touch the water, and one they nickname "The Teabag." The boat is staffed to retrieve the jumpers, or to help them get vertical for the "pulling up" - I never found out which. Some venues do one or the other.

Night shot. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas - even though, in Australia, I saw Xmas candy in the stores before Halloween (which isn't ceebrated either in Australia or NZ). This must be a little like what Hawaii feels like for Xmas - All the trappings, but warm weather.

One Tree Hill is a special place to the Maori people. As usual, the European settlers did something stupid to anger the local tribe, which then led to a tit-for-tat exchange and the eventual agreement to preserve the sanctity of the hill.

It's a long walk to the top.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Tree_Hill,_New_Zealand

All in all, the city has a fair museum, an art gallery that is being upgraded and expanded (and sorely needs it), and 64 dormant volcanoes. Dormant, not extinct. No housing is allowed on the top, but people have built awfully close to the top.

On the way to Paihia, on the northeast coast, we stopped at Sheepworld for tea. Morning tea is when you have a small meal, because breakfast for continentals (Europeans) usually consists of several pieces of bread, jam, and coffee. Thus, by 10 am, the hunger needs to be satisfied.

Sheepworld is a tribute to one of the major industries in New Zealand, if not the number one source of gross national product. Not only are sheep a source of meat and wool, they fertilize the soils and keep the weeds down quite effectively. If goats had useful wool, they would be even more effective at weed control because they eat more noxious weeds than do sheep.

Any place that serves potent coffee is a hit with me.

Apologies for the formatting

It seems that the harder I try to correct the formatting problems, the worse the new postings look. Sorry about that. The help pages are nor very helpful.

Wellington, part 3; Wanganui; Taranaki; Napier; Mount Maunganui; Paeroa

The People's Republic of China has a large presence in Wellington, as a developing trading partner. Here is their embassy, on a busy street next to the Botanic Gardens, with no obvious indications of security.





















Just like the Art Museum in Canberra, Wellington's Civic Center has a ball suspended above the square. Very nice focal point.
















On Sunday, November 4, New Zealand's Parliament Building held an open house - something they do only once or twice a year. A previous post had a picture of the "beehive" dome, within which there is a cafeteria, theatre, ballroom, and various offices for functionaries. This is the Parliament Building, wherein the Prime Minister, the equivalent of our Cabinet, and various elected officials have offices and meeting rooms. No photography by visitors was allowed inside, for security reasons, but there were official photographers wandering around. Somewhere in the archive of that day is a picture of me staring at framed documents hanging on a wall - posed by one of the official photographers.
















At the opening of the doors, there was an official greeter.
















There was also an official Cryer, reading the proclamation declaring the "house" open.


















WANGANUI
On to Wanganui (Wong-ah-NOO-ee). A view from the hill at the north end of town.

















A refurbished paddlewheeler. Unfortunately, coal-fired and very smelly.

















The very nice history museum. As I said, it seems every community, no matter how small, has a museum.

















The Sergeant Art Museum, built with donated funds and housing quite a nice selection of New Zealand art. That's the southern tip of the Tararua Range in the background. It runs NE to SW, so this is an "end shot."

















TARANAKI
Taranaki was a great side-trip and well worth the time. This mountain rises 2518 meters (8262 feet) almost from sea-level, and is about 25 km from the sea, due to it's own past eruptions. The deposits raised the land above the sea, you see. This mountain has erupted and then collapsed at least 5 times in 250,000 years. The last eruption was 250 years ago, and it is overdue for another. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Taranaki

View from my lodging window.

















View from town.

















The hike around part of the base was wet that morning. That's why they call it a rain forest.

















View from closer.

A hut was moved to the mountain to create a lodging for trampers. The hut was used by the local militia to combat the Maori, and is made of 3/8 inch thick wrought iron, which is not really made any more, I'm informed. The firing slits have been covered, but this hut is still notorious with the native people. They discourage climbing to the peak because this mountain was named after one of their great chiefs, and it is believed that his spirit now inhabits the mountain. To climb it is to stand on his head, which is to insult the chief's intelligence.

NAPIER

Napier was virtually destroyed in a major earthquake in 1931. The local museum has a film of interviews with survisors, along with still photos of the destruction. The city was rebuilt because it is a major port for New Zealand, and is now known as "The Art Deco City." Nice black-sand beaches and fantastic for surfing. But not much else to do.

Guess what one of their major exports is?

Napier got into the spirit of Lord of the Rings when it premiered in the city. Gollum eats ice cream?

I stayed at the local prison, which has been converted to a backpackers lodge. If you ever visit this city, take the tour and stay somewhere else. It was old (duh!) and impossible to open the cell doors quietly.

The humor of the owners is very droll. This is "The Hanging Yard." There were 5 hangings at the prison, and at least one of those executed is buried on the grounds. Creepy.

MOUNT MAUNGANUI

This is why they call this town "The Mount." You can walk around it or climb to the top.

Nice beaches, but if you don't surf there isn't much to do.

ON THE WAY TO AUCKLAND

The Mount Bruce Wildlife Center would have been a nice tour if we hadn't had to stop and change buses in Masterton. Ours had a large gash in the roof because the driver ran the bus into a concrete overhang as he was making a tight turn in Wellington, about a week before. We did get to see some of the wildlife, however.

A tuatara, the only beaked lizard in the world and endangered. There is much effort being put into ensuring its survival. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara

The tekahe was thought to be extinct until a colony was discovered, recovered, and now being raised to increase their numbers - much as with the California Condor. I'm not sure whether you can tell its size, but it's about the size of a chicken.

The Tui Brewery! For $2NZ, you get admission to their bar and 3 (!) pints.

This picture was taken BEFORE the 3 pints. Honest.

PAEROA

This town made itself famous by bottling its mineral water and adding a bit of lemon. Why is it world famous? Because tourists stop to take pictures of this bottle and then tell everyone they know all about it. The drink is refreshing, but, hey - it's mineral water with lemon.