Black Water Rafting

Waitomo, New Zealand

(This whole area is about an hour from where they filmed The Shire in LOTR)

Caught the 730 am bus to Waitomo. The ride was pleasant as it crossed rolling hills of green. The driver was pointing things out via intercom, which I didn’t expect, but welcomed anyways. Once off the bus, I had a 2k hike to my hostel.  This one turned out to be a cabin on the side of a hill with about ten rooms.

Waitomo is famous for its elaborate cave system and Gloworms. There are multiple tours you can take; from a simple boat tour, black water rafting, or to intense 5-7 hour abseiling adventures. Since money does sadly play a factor on my trip, I settled for the black water rafting.

I booked my trip with The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. After suiting up in wetsuits, then a short drive and a shorter hike, you enter the Ruakuri Cave system. What starts as a tiny creek above ground, becomes a decent river underground. There were amazing cave features and huge cathedrals at times (Also a few tight squeezes). On the ceiling throughout the cave, are the Gloworms. Gloworms are little bio-luminescent larvae that hang little strings from the ceiling. It was like something straight off of Planet Earth. When everyone turns off their head torch, you float down a river 65 meters underground in complete darkness with what looks like stars above you. Took about 3 hours for the whole trip. Absolutely amazing experience, anyone who comes to NZ must do this. Sadly you are not allowed to take pictures.

You come out near a nature trail at the end, and there was a family walking by at that moment with a little kid. I shouted “Oh my god you found us! What day is it?” and he looked shocked and started taking pictures.