Next stop was the Waipu Glowworm Caves. The most famous Glow worm caves in New Zealand are probably the Waitomo caves. But it is pretty expensive to go in there and are kind of far away from all other attractions I was interested in. Waipu cave was free to enter and you could explore on foot which was really cool.
We got there at around 10am and there were already lots of people. The entrance is in the middle of pasture land so very strange. We did not prepare very well for the trek. So with only our phones for flashlights and in bare feet we walked through the caves. The formations inside the cave looked like an alien planet.
After wading through a shallow stream, the glow worms started to appear on the ceiling. They give off this turquoise colored light that was impossible to capture with just a phone camera, but gave the same feeling as a night sky full of stars. Apparently, if you went deeper into the cave, there was an even more impressive formation, but we both had taken our backpacks and were bare footed so opted not to wade through knee deep water in a tight space to reach the next cave. But overall it was probably one of the weirdest and most adventurous things I've done in NZ so far!
We stopped for lunch in the artsy town of Whangarei. I ordered a chicken salad and vanilla loaf which reminded me of Lamington (another NZ treat).
Then we took a short stop at Kiwi North, one of the kiwi research and conservation centers. Though we were not allowed to take pictures, we got to see a kiwi up close for about an hour which was so cool! It was right up near the glass and moved surprisingly fast for such a small animal. There was also a moa skeleton and a gunter chain (just like from my civil field session at Mines!).
Lastly, we drove up to Paihia to our hostel. It had a nice view of the harbor!
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