We drove today to Waitomo, staying at
Woodlyn Park, a center of "demented ingenuity", as Ilona called it. First the "motel" aspect: their goal seems to be to make a motel out of practically anything. They have rooms in an old train car, they have rooms in an old boat, they have a WWII-era airplane with rooms. Our room was in the "Hobbit Motel", with round doors and a hobbit-y feel to it. Surprisingly, the rooms were very spacious and very well furnished with high quality furnishings.
Woodlyn Park also runs a one-man "Kiwi Culture Show" that was a blast. It was held in an old barn that doubles as the reception/event area. The barn is filled with "antiques" (old junk, but enough to compete with the Waiheke Historical Society museum). There were only six of us in the audience (the four of us and another couple) but he ("Billy Black", though there appear to be more than one of him based on pictures from other shows) gave a great performance. Audience participation was a must, of course, so Mike took a stab at sawing a log (we would have made it through if my partner had worked a bit harder!), Ilona helped him blow up a log (not really, but there was a big bang), and Karin and Ilona helped him shear a sheep by cranking the clippers for him. There were animals (a pig, sheep, dog chasing the sheep, possum, goat, and, for the big finale, a cow). We actually learned a lot during the hour, and had a great time.
After the show, we went to the
Waitomo Glow Worm Cave, which was the real reason we came to Waitomo. The area around Waitomo is littered with caves, caverns, and tunnels. Many of these have rivers run through them, and these dark, damp places attract "
glow worms", a larval stage of a particular fly (technically, they should be called "glow maggots", but marketing stepped in to change the name). On our tour we first walked through a series of spectacular cathedral-like caves leading down to the underground river. The glow-worms live on the roof of the caves, and hang down filaments of silk to catch other insects to eat. It was kinda creepy to see thousands of these filaments hanging down above us.
We then got in a boat and coasted for about 15 minutes underground. Above us (in the totally dark cavern) were thousands of glow worms. It looked like a particularly starry night (with big green stars). Finally we made it to the entrance, where the stream exits the cavern system. No photos were allowed, but we bought the tourist photo of us in the cave, so I'll add that once I get to a scanner.
The rain stopped, and the sun started peaking out, letting us have some time on the swings by the beach. You can see our house in the last picture here: we are the higher one (we can't see the lower one from our house due to vegetation and the height differences).
Alexander, meanwhile, hunkered down in an impromptu tent in the living room, complete with entourage.
The evening was great fun, with wonderful costumes, great food, perfect music, and dancing. Highlights included a friend of ours (she nanny's Livvy, Alexander's girlfriend) dressed as Fiona, the ogre princess from Shrek, and a man in a full "Black Adder" outfit, including a provocative codpiece (it strikes me that Aunt Janice will have some difficulties explaining some of this to cousins Matthieu and Janelle, but good luck with it!). It was a little strange that there was just one porta-potty for the 200: Kiwis must be a hardy, and strong bladdered, bunch.
Once the sun is up, it seems a nice day to dress like a pirate, again.
Ilona and Karin spent the morning "black water rafting". This involves dressing in wetsuits, sticking your butt in an inner tube, jumping blindly into ice cold water, and floating down underground rivers, hoping your flashlight (on your helmet) doesn't go out. It also involves hiking (with inner tube), waterfall jumping (with inner tube) and marshmallow eating (with inner tube). It was a blast! More glowworms, caverns, and cold water than you can imagine.
After all that excitement, it was time to head back. Three hours drive, a 45 minute ferry ride, and a short drive and we were back home in time for a spectacular sunset.
After the walk, we spent some time at the spa there. We all took a mud bath (Alexander loved that!) then hung out in some sulpher pools. Ilona and Karin then got massages while Alexander and Mike did some more wandering around.
Today we went out to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, a few miles away from Rotorua. You walk (or take a shuttle bus) down the valley, ending up a big lake (Lake Rotomahana). The lake was formed during the 1886 explosion that reformed the area. Before the explosion, there were magnificent formations called the Pink and White Terraces that attracted people from around the world (at a time when New Zealand was very hard to get to). The Terraces were instantly obliterated, and the area is now covered by a hundred feet or more of water. 
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