Saturday was the much anticipated trip to see the famous glowworm caves in Waitomo. We rode the bus for several hours north to get there, which was long but worth it. We explored the limestone caves for most of the tour, then climbed into a rocking boat on an underground river. It was perfectly pitch black except for the green worms, phosphorescent and luminous along the ceiling. We glided silently along the dark river for only about ten minutes, faces turned upward toward those thousand tiny lights glowing above us. The experience was intensely spiritual, short though it was. In my imagination we rode the river Styx down to the underworld.
When we reached the end of the line the light from the cave opening blinded us and I had to blink several times. The transition from total darkness to dazzling sunlight was sudden and surprising. Not the underworld at all, but a lush, living jungle! We exited the boat and walked along the river in a dripping rainforest to the sound of cicadas buzzing in the trees.
No pictures were allowed inside the cave, but I managed to snap a few on the trail at the entrance and exit.
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