Waitomo Caves and the Otorohanga Kiwi Conservatory in New Zealand

On yet another day trip from Lake Taupo during over December vacation in New Zealand, we drove north east to Waitomo. It was a very scenic drive with windy roads and sheep everywhere.

Well, if there were three common themes in our trip it was 

a. Fast moving clouds like you would not believe

b. Sheep that will put you to sleep when you try counting them during the drive

c. Scenic views that are unmatched

At Waitomo, they have a one of a kind cave system which is home to a glow worm that lives on the cave ceilings. It is pitch dark as we go through the caves in a small boat and if lucky the ceiling lights up with millions of light blue dots.  

We were lucky and got to see this. The staff were not friendly. We specifically asked them if a 1 1/2 old baby was okay on the boat and they said fine and sold us tickets. When it was time to board the boat, the guy stopped us saying the baby was too small and will make a noise that will scare the worms. We told him that the baby was a well behaved baby and went on the boat. For her part, the baby was well behaved.. and she would call out her mom's name in a shrill voice. We did not see that one coming. The worms were fine and did their display for us.

We came out from absolute darkness to bright sunlight and it took us all a few minutes to realize what was going on when the guy was trying to get us off the boat!

It was 90 minutes of waiting for a 5 minute boat ride to see a one of a kind experience. Fortunately, Mr. Disney had trained us well for such experiences over the last 15 years!

We finished a quick lunch at the outdoor cafeteria and headed on to see the Otorohanga Kiwi conservatory, which also is an avaiary that houses rare birds of New Zealand. There were three kiwi birds that are in the extremely endangered category and they seemed healthy and large, large gray fur balls that came up to our knees. They were in a glass enclosure which was dark. There was no photography allowed. We did see the birds and go "wow". They were very unique and we all felt sad for the bird that was most likely not going to make it.

Here are some pictures of the other creatures we saw while walking through the convervatory.

We saw the Kea which was once found everywhere and is now a rare bird.. guess that is what happens if you start eating sheep in New Zealand! 

We also spotted a lizard that looked like a dragon while wandering through the other displays and it had a peculiaar blue and green thing on its size. So I zoomed in and took a picture. When processing the image last week, saw that it was actually PLASTIC BEADS! Someone had done an Afro style beading job on the poor lizzard and let it out there! So much for us not messing with nature. 

It is a good 2 1/2 hour drive to Waitomo from Taupo. You are better off visiting from Auckland. Still we enjoyed the day and had a lot of fun. We drove through a city that claimed to be the "shearing capital of the world" and they even had a giant statue of a guy shearing sheep. This must have been at least 30 foot tall. 

New Zealand is a truly wonderful place and you get to see things that are far from run of the mill. Would strongly recommend a trip to Waitomo. If you have small kids who cannot keep quiet during a dark damp boat ride though, you may want to wait a while.. 

Whitianga and Cathedral Cove in New Zealand

It has been almost 5 months since we came back from our trip to New Zealand. The photos from the last four days of the two week Australia/New Zealand trip were lost in some Hard Drive rearrangement. Finally found them yesterday.

A good five hours went by editing the ~1500 photos found!

You have seen the photos from our day trips to Rotorua and Tongariro National park. After this we did a day trip to Whitianga in the North east tip of the North island. It was a scenic drive through mountains and rolling hills to reach the pier front. 

 

We had a lot of fun watching kids being taught how to fish in the pier. They have a grandpa society of sorts that teaches very young kids how to fish and prepare the fish etc. The kids did not like it, but it was a wonderful "intro to the reality of non vegetarian cooking" in a live setting!

Then it was our turn to board the "Ocean Leopard" tour speedboat. It was an amazing exprience. In 60-90 minutes depending on the weather, they take you to all the different rock formations and beaches in the area. You are not allowed to get off the boat and on to the beaches. If you do like any beach, you can always drive and visit them for a fee! 

The tourguide was amazing and patient with our group. He took our requests to steady the boat at places or turn it around for pictures etc. We passed a group of nesting cormorants on the shores. It was our first time seeing nesting cormorants!  

 

The beaches are beautiful, not to mention the women in those beaches! Everyone we met looked like a beauty queen pageant. Sorry.. no pictures! 

On the way back from the boat ride we stopped by to grab something to eat. Given all the restaurants in Whitianga are in one straight road, everyone went their separate ways. I wanted to grab a Chai at the local Indian place called Sangam and the rest of the family went to grab Pizza. Both the Chai and the pizza turned out to be excellent. 

The Sangam restaurant had something we have not seen anywhere else. A bunch of porcelain dolls of guys doing Bhangra! Was reminded of my nephews who have both taken to this style of dancing. A desi restaurant at the north east tip of New Zealand! Who knew!

Then we went to the Hot sands beach. A place where the ocean water is cold, but if you dig a hole in the sand a 100 feet from the waters edge, the water is hot because of volcanic activity underground. The problem with this beach is that if you dont get out in time, the high tide makes it impossible to cross back to the parking lot!

 

We have taken a lot of group pictures of the family at nature parks and beaches. An old granny took this shot with shaky fingers. She had actually pressed the shutter 30 times in the few seconds we gave her the camera without realizing it! This is by far the best background.. and I did not even edit the photo to adjust anything! Seriously, New Zealand has every other place beat by a wide margin when it comes to providing scenic backdrops. 

The entire group desperately clamoured back towards the parking lot and my sister-in-law cut her feet on the rocks and had to be carried to the parking lot by her hubby. The kids found this whole thing amusing. 

We were driving back and saw some amazing sunset views as we turned towards Auckland. 

More pictures from Waitomo, Auckland and Maori Rock face soon..

If you do visit the North island of New Zealand, do not miss the Ocean Leopard tours at Whitianga!

Tongariro National Park- New Zealand

One of the places that will stay in our memory forever in the December New Zealand trip is Tongariro National park. A place that has majestic volcanos, snow covered mountains, breathtaking waterfalls, scenic views of the plains with clouds moving so fast.. the list goes on!

Here are a few select pictures from this place..

The Taranaki waterfall is simply breathtaking. It takes a 2 hour hike to get there but it was totally worth the effort! The red rocks and the green waters somehow make a soothing combination.

The clouds dashing against the three big mountains in Tongariro national park.

We did not see many animals or birds on a day long hike through Tongariro all the way to Taranaki falls and back. We then proceeded towards the worlds highest working hotel (?!) which was in Whakapapa. Unfortunately the ski lift used to get there was closed. So we got to the base and drank hot chocolate. The views from this place were awesome. 

On the way back to Turangi (where it all starts at a visitor center), the boys decided to go for another hike in the rain to Emerald lake. We thought we were gone for an hour, but it happened to be two and we will never forget the reprimand from the ladies..

The lake was amazing. Crystal clear water, nice beaches, no people, just a hike through a fern forest!

Even this panorama shot doesn't do justice to showing how beautiful this place is!

There were supposed to be more than 20 types of birds in the rain forest.. but I saw one. My BIL maybe saw two.. The pidgeon in New Zealand is 2x the size of the normal pidgeon you see in the US!

By the time we got back to the vehicles after seeing the lake, it started pouring. There was a plan to see the trout feeding outside the visitor center in Turangi, but after we learned that the trout was imported from California, we passed and headed back to Lake Taupo basecamp.

The sunset that welcomed us back at Taupo was out of this world as well. As you can tell, this was going to be the "Happy New Year 2014" greeting card from New Zealand.

We did go to four more places in the North island over the next three days. The way things are going, we may not see those photos processed for a month or two. 

If you go to the North island in New Zealand and are a "National Park" type person, you cannot miss this one. Must see!