both surface and underground in this area. It is famous as the main place to see glow worms; the dark, wet conditions are perfect for them, so these caves are full of them. These are insects that light up in the dark caves to attract flies and moths, which it traps and eats. What you see, as your boat takes you gently downriver in the dark of the cave, is a wonderful ceiling full of countless glowing lights, some brighter (hungrier ones) while others are more dim. It feels magical and secret, as it is pretty impossible to photograph.These caves have transformed this sleepy little village into not just a first-class tourist attraction, but also, in typical NZ style, into an extreme-activities mecca. This is the place for abseiling, rock climbing, rafting. I had already done the other two elsewhere, but I wanted to try the so-called black-water rafting. Dorka was super and took the kids to play while I had an afternoon of that. The raft is actually more like a child’s rubber swimming-ring – it’s the inflated inner tube of a tractor tyre, which you carry down into the cave, then sit in with your bum hanging down while you hope for no sharp rocks beneath you. The water is mostly deep and cold, but dressed in a full-length wetsuit, you can last the hour underground without getting too chilly. There is just as much time climbing over rocks than floating, but it was all great fun. I also saw millions of glow worms here.
Another thing we saw in the dark here, was a kiwi, the flightless bird that really is a symbol for the whole country. They are about the size of a goose, but with no neck and a really long beak. They only come out at night through, so we couldn’t take any photos.
The next day, we all went to the nearby
Aranui Limestone Caves, which was a lovely little trip. There were only 8 of us on the tour, so we were able to take our time and really enjoy the millions of tiny stalactites and towering stalagmites and narrow columns where the two had connected. The guide took lots of extra time to show us cave crickets and other special sights, and because there were no life-cycles to affect here, we could finally take photographs.We left the caves behind and travelled to Rotorua. We had read that this is really the place for the true Maori experience, but we didn’t really find that ourselves. It was nice enough; we managed to get a cabin in a holiday park, and Emma made friends with a girl her own age - sadly this didn’t happen too often on the trip, so spending time in Rotorua with Sunny, a little girl on holiday from Australia, was one of the highlights of the trip for her.
We made an excursion to nearby Te Wairoa, a village half buried in volcanic mud in a huge eruption in 1886. It’s worth knowing that Rotorua is right in the heart of a massive strip of volcanic activity.
Two things were fascinating about the buried village: one is that tourism was already the norm in the 1880’s, but the thing that people came here to see then is gone. It was the great pink and white sinter terraces, a series of volcanic terraces, like rows of bathtubs arranged one after the other reaching from a river of boiling water down to a lake. The lower ones were great for bathing apparently, and the whole thing was incredibly beautiful. But now it’s at the bottom of the lake.
The other odd thing was a perfectly straight row of huge trees in the middle of the village. This was, they say, a fence made of cut branches (aspen or poplar I think) that were half buried in rich volcanic mud, and about half of them sprouted and grew up as trees.
We ckecked out the waterfalls nearby before heading back to Rotorua. En route we lounged by Blue Lake in the afternoon, then headed home to be ready for our Maori evening.
This took place at a local Maori village called Te Puia. I’m not sure if people 
actually live in this village all year or it’s merely a tourist trap, but it certainly was smoothly set up.
After our Maori guide welcomed us to the village, he took us across to see the formal challenge issued to our tour-group’s designated chief for the night, a German chap named Thomas. There followed about an hour of songs,
with plenty of opportunities for us to go up on stage and look foolish. The highlight was of course the fierce Haka warrior challenge, now made so famous by the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team. After all the dancing came a hangi feast. This was supposedly meat and veg cooked in an underground oven heated by stones, but it seemed like any other banquet food really. There were large amounts of everything and we had hardly eaten that day, so we 
ate like crazy. After this was a short trip to the thermal pools and geysers on the other side of the village, then hot chocolate and back to the car park. This was all OK and as I said, very smoothly carried out, but somehow it all seemed a bit wooden and mass-produced.
The following morning we had a deadline to meet.
I had read that at the volcanic park Wai O Tapu, the Lady Knox Geyser erupts at exactly 10:15 every day. That seemed worth checking out, so there we were (arriving at about 10:13) to see the ranger add some carbolic soap to a smoky hole in the ground. This is how the geyser was discovered apparently, some field working convicts were washing their clothes in a hot pool and the soap caused a chemical reaction, which led to an eruption. 
It must have scared them half to death, because the eruption we saw reached about 15m high and looked pretty fierce. After a few minutes of gushing water though, the novelty wears off, so we carried on to see the rest of the volcanic park, which was great. Dorka loved the multicoloured champagne pools and Emma enjoyed collecting pretty rocks. 
On the road to Lake Taupo, we stopped off at a thermal pool complex so we could all enjoy ourselves in the water. By the time we finally got to the Lake, it was getting late. Thankfully we had a reservation, so we knew that despite the peak season, we had a nice place assured for our Christmas break.
actually live in this village all year or it’s merely a tourist trap, but it certainly was smoothly set up.After our Maori guide welcomed us to the village, he took us across to see the formal challenge issued to our tour-group’s designated chief for the night, a German chap named Thomas. There followed about an hour of songs,
with plenty of opportunities for us to go up on stage and look foolish. The highlight was of course the fierce Haka warrior challenge, now made so famous by the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team. After all the dancing came a hangi feast. This was supposedly meat and veg cooked in an underground oven heated by stones, but it seemed like any other banquet food really. There were large amounts of everything and we had hardly eaten that day, so we 
ate like crazy. After this was a short trip to the thermal pools and geysers on the other side of the village, then hot chocolate and back to the car park. This was all OK and as I said, very smoothly carried out, but somehow it all seemed a bit wooden and mass-produced.The following morning we had a deadline to meet.
I had read that at the volcanic park Wai O Tapu, the Lady Knox Geyser erupts at exactly 10:15 every day. That seemed worth checking out, so there we were (arriving at about 10:13) to see the ranger add some carbolic soap to a smoky hole in the ground. This is how the geyser was discovered apparently, some field working convicts were washing their clothes in a hot pool and the soap caused a chemical reaction, which led to an eruption. 
It must have scared them half to death, because the eruption we saw reached about 15m high and looked pretty fierce. After a few minutes of gushing water though, the novelty wears off, so we carried on to see the rest of the volcanic park, which was great. Dorka loved the multicoloured champagne pools and Emma enjoyed collecting pretty rocks. 
On the road to Lake Taupo, we stopped off at a thermal pool complex so we could all enjoy ourselves in the water. By the time we finally got to the Lake, it was getting late. Thankfully we had a reservation, so we knew that despite the peak season, we had a nice place assured for our Christmas break.
Click on the cave photo below for the whole album!
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