Day Ten: Lake Rotorua, Waitomo, and Auckland

I felt bad when our hotel was so far out of town from the direction that Carters needed to travel.  But when I woke up to this pretty sight, it was a great start to our day...

We got picked up by our sweet tour guide and we happened to be her own clients that part of the day.  So we got a personalized trip as we headed west to the Waitomo Caves.  Because of where our hotel was, we avoided traveling through Rotorua again and were able to make additional spots along the way.  The first was at a different part of the lake where a small stream flows into the lake.

Look how clear the water is...

We then headed to our next stop--a swinging bridge.

We met up with another tour guide and his tourists.  He actually was the one who would take us from the caves to Auckland and his people will travel with our tour guide back to Rotorua--a good system they have for transporting tourists around the countryside.

Here he is teaching us about this native grass and how they used it in the "olden" days.

Look at those huge ferns.

And here we are high up on this bridge.....

The power plant

and the river below

even here locks are placed on the chain link to "lock" their love

This is a very common sign around New Zealand--sometimes due to construction like this one, but many of the bridges are only one way, so you must yield if you are approaching from the side with the small red arrow.  (Remember they drive on the "other side" of the road in New Zealand.)

Our drive with our tour guide was so pleasant as we talked about her children and grandchildren, her life, their country farm, and life in New Zealand.  

The things you see in the countryside ......

We then arrived at the main event for the day--the Waitomo Caves.  I had seen the pictures and knew a bit about what we were going to experience, but Gary had no idea AND really the photos and things I had read didn't not compare to the actual experience of seeing these amazing glow "worms."  Google it--it is amazing.  Photos were not permitted in the actual cave only as we were exiting.

A beautiful structure over the caves to protect their delicate enviroment.

You first walk through a portion of the cave on pathways which have been built and you learn about the history of this place which is considered to be a holy place by many of the tribes of the Māori people.  Then you board a small boat and are pushed through the caves where the glow worms live.  At the boarding spot, they actually for a brief moment light up a portion where the glow worms live and you can see their dangling feelers which capture their food.  Then you just ride through these caves with glowing lights everywhere.  Better than a ride at Disney because these are real creatures--so rare on the earth.  There are two other places with a similar creature including in Georgia in the US but they aren't exactly the same species.  Seriously google Waitomo Cave glow worms and be prepared to be amazed!!

Some of the jungle around the caves....

Have I mentioned the world is an AMAZING place!!!!

We then hopped into the other van and headed north to Auckland--one of the major cities of New Zealand with 1.7 million people.  Carters had told us that we would be able to see the new Auckland Temple from the freeway as we were traveling into town.  As we approached the city, I googled it to see how far away it was and we were only just 3 minutes or so away---I got my camera ready but it turned out that we turned off that main freeway to catch another loop to our particular hotel which was close to the airport....so my photo is not too good....

But there it is--a white bright beacon just off the other freeway.  :)  I didn't know when we selected our dates that we would be there right as the open house ended -March 23--and before it was dedicated which was on April 13th.  I should have planned better because it would have been cool to attend this brand new temple as well as the Hamilton one. Oh, well.  I saw it.  I don't think I will ever pass this way again...and that's okay because the world is filled with amazing things.

And remember GOOGLE the glow worms!