Waitomo is a village on the north Island of new Zealand, in the Waikato region. The word Waitomo comes from the Maori language meaning water and tomo (meaning sinkhole). It’s about a 2.5 hour drive south from Auckland. We visited on our way to stay at Rotorua.

Waitomo caves are an area in Waitomo which consists of 28 miles of underground caves and tunnels. The Waitomo river links the caves and grottos.

There is now so much to do in the area, like abseiling and zip lines inside the caves. But as we went a while ago we didn’t get to experience these. There was the opportunity to do black water rafting, but I was a bit too nervous for that. So I will talk about what we did do. There are 3 caves to explore:

Ruakuri and Aranui caves

First discovered 400-500 years ago, Ruakuri cave is the largest in the Waitomo area. The limestone formations are beautiful, and this cave is fully accessible.

Spectacular stalactites and stalagmites fill Aranui cave. Pale brown, pink and white colours, all creating different patterns and designs.

You walk on boardwalks through the interlocking caves and see the wonderous natural designs surrounding you. There’s different chambers all resembling things from the cathedral chamber to the “pipe organ”. The ceiling and walls sparkle with the moisture and crystals in them, it’s truly magical.

Glowworm caves

After visiting the previous caves, you are now rewarded with what I can only describe as something out of this world! The glowworm caves have been a tourist attraction for 130 years

You step into a boat and the guides take you along the slow moving river. The guides pull you silently along with ropes attached to the cave walls. Above you are hundreds if not thousands of tiny green lights, these are the glow worms. It resembles having glow in the dark stars stuck on your ceiling as a child. Only this is way better.

This galaxy of tiny living lights is unique to this part of the world, and it’s actually the larva of the beetle that glows. The larva use the glow to attract and snare prey. You have to be very silent as noise will disturb them and they will stop glowing. The first time I visited as a child, my younger cousin decided to let out a large noise and all the glow worms disappeared. Photography is not allowed in the glow worm cave so these shots were taken by a professional photographer.

Book tickets or find out more information on the caves here http://www.waitomo.com

Visit http://www.shaunjeffersphoto.com for more incredible photos.