Waitomo caves
 

We are planning on stopping in Waitomo during the day we drive from Tongariro to Auckland. Because we will not be able to get there early in the day and because it will be a Saturday, it would probably be good to book a tour in advance. I had considered blackwater rafting, e.g., the Black Labyrinth tour, but am wondering if it is more adventurous than I might like, and also it takes a fair amount of time. I currently leaning toward the combination of the two 45-min. tours of the Waitomo Cave and the Aranui Cave. We'd also like to visit the Museum of Caves.

I'd appreciate opinions about these options (and others).

Thanks!

Blackwater rafting was one of the COOLEST things I ever did. I was in my mid-40's at the time and I did not find it too strenuous or "adventurous". But if don't think you'll be comfortable doing it, then by all means arrange to go to Waitomo Cave. It's a spectacular sight to see all the glowworms and the boat ride on the underground lake with all of those glowworm lights is magical. (Didn't visit Aranui Cave and didn't care much for the Museum of Caves, but that could be because I've toured so many caves that the information at the museum was pretty "old hat".)

Thanks, Longhorn55. I'll reconsider. Which blackwater rafting trip did you do? I was looking at the Black Labryinth tour offered by the Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.

I have thought of myself as fairly adventurous, but I recently tried mountain biking (at Mammoth Mountain, CA) and was scared to death most of the time. Perhaps that's not analogous to blackwater rafting. I did go river rafting (on Numbers Run in the Arkansas R. in Colorado) this summer and had no problem with that.

We took the blackwater rafting trip at Waitomo several years ago. The hardest part for me was jumping into the water from a rock at the beginning of the trip, but then I'm a wimp when it comes to water. Otherwise, it was a piece of cake and a lot of fun.

Sorry, can't remember the specifics of the tour we took.

Judilie, we did the Black Labyrinth tour in April 2004; I was 43 and Mr. Pickle was 42. If you look at the picture we put up at community.webshots.com/user/ElendilPickle, you'll see that I am not slim and trim, so if I can do it, so can you! :-D

After you put your wetsuit on, your guide drives you to a place where you choose a tube to fit your hiney, practice steering it, and learn the directions you'll need to follow while you're in the water.

Next you drive to the cave entrance, where you walk a short distance to the cave opening, then past a nice variety of cave formations until you get to the water. The first part is pretty shallow, but soon you get into the tube and start floating.

The view is incredible - you see thousands of blue-green glowworm lights on the ceiling and walls of the cave as you float through. It's really beautiful.

I am not a fan of heights, so the hardest part for me was jumping off a six-feet high waterfall. Our guide gave us two options - jump off backward while holding the tube so that we would land with our hinies in it at the bottom, or putting the tube around our waists and jumping facing forward. I decided to jump backward, and it really wasn't difficult at all. I was kind of proud of myself for doing it!

After you're done, you go back to headquarters for a nice warm shower and hot soup and bagels.

We took an afternoon tour with a fairly small group (about 12 people) and had a great time. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

The Museum of Caves is interesting, but doesn't take very long.

We did the Black Labyrinth tour in February of this year - I'm glad I did it but it's not for everyone.

This year the water is extremely low which means there is much less floating than normal and a lot of walking/crawling/staggering on uneven, wet rocks. ..... our float time was less than 50% of the time underground.

I'd ask about the water level........

Oops - forgot the most important thing about Waitomo.......DO NOT stay at the Waitomo Caves Hotel - a combination Fawlty Towers/Hotel from the Shining experience - here's a link to the reviews on Trip Advisor

http://tinyurl.com/2dx549

Check out the Spellbound Glowworm Cave tour (http://www.glowworm.co.nz/). In my opinion, it's a much nicer glowworm tour than the more famous Waitomo Cave tour (yes, I've done both), but is not overly adventurous (like some of the rafting tours may be). It's a small group tour, and you spend a lot more time in the glowworm cave (as long as 45 minutes), so your eyes have time to become really dark adapted, which makes the sight even more spectacular.

And if you need a place to stay in Waitomo, I can recommend the Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge (http://www.waitomocavesguestlodge.co.nz/)