For the last leg of our trip we left Hamilton and headed with friends toward the Bay of Plenty on the east coast. No matter where you travel in New Zealand, you can always find wonderful things to see on the way.
Taitua Arboretum
Taitua Arboretum is a 20-hectare park planted with a range of native and exotic trees. It was a foggy, cool day, but provided a lovely walk and an opportunity to stretch the legs and clear out the cobwebs. It’s a popular spot for wedding photos, apparently.
Otorohanga
We stopped for lunch in the town of Otorohanga, New Zealand’s self-proclaimed “Kiwiana Town”. Murals and displays throughout the town boast all things Kiwi (although Australians might dispute the ownership of some of them!)
SPELLBOUND Cave TOUR
Glowworms are fascinating creatures. They are not worms at all, but the larvae of a small fungus gnat. The species is endemic to New Zealand and Australia, and found nowhere else in the world. The larvae produce a blue-green bioluminescent light to attract and trap prey inside caves, overhangs, and forest banks. Each larva builds a sticky silk nest on the cave ceiling, then hangs dozens of threads coated in mucus droplets below it. Insects flying toward the light get caught in the threads. The larva reels them in and eats them. The adults are short-lived flies that do not feed at all; they have no functioning mouthparts. Their one purpose is to mate and lay eggs before they die.
Spellbound Caves are said to be New Zealand’s brightest glowworm cave experience, and the first thing we booked when planning this trip was a tour of the caves. We walked (in the dark) a short distance into the cave, and then were taken on a 20-minute boat ride deep into the cave.
We had dinner at a local hotel, where the drinks menu included such appealing titles as “The Ginger Whinger (aka Prince Harry)” and “Do Glowworms Pine for Eclectic Drinks?” Meanwhile here’s a video taken from the little boat with my phone (you might want to turn your volume down).
Otorohanga Kiwi House
A real highlight of the trip the following day was our visit to the Otorohanga Kiwi House, where we did a behind the scenes tour. We got to see a pair of active Kiwis, which are nocturnal and very hard to spot in the wild. I “borrowed” a photo from the website as no photography was allowed in the Kiwi nocturnal house. We saw lots of other birds and bugs and geckos, as well as learning about breeding of the endangered Giant Weta.
And now we have arrived at Papamoa Beach, where we will spend the next 5 days at a digital scrapbooking retreat with a bunch of Kiwi and Aussie gals, which was the primary purpose of the trip to NZ once again – it’s becoming an annual event for us.
