{"id":11606,"date":"2024-05-04T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=11606"},"modified":"2024-05-10T19:12:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T07:12:35","slug":"the-early-bird-gets-the-worm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/04\/the-early-bird-gets-the-worm\/","title":{"rendered":"The Early Bird Catches The Worm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wai = Water
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Travelers we met in the South Island highly recommended the Spellbound Glowworm and Cave tour<\/a> in Waitomo. We originally planned to do the more popular tour of caves in the center of town, but they swayed our opinion to make a change, so we pivoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We chose the Explorer tour, which visited a glowworm cave by foot and raft as well as a walk through the Spirit Cave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our tour guide gave us hardhats with headlamps and we entered the Mangawhitikau Cave after walking down a sheep pasture into a deep crevasse. We then crossed a small footbridge with massive eels in the riverbanks underneath until we walked into the mouth of the cave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Although this cave is six miles long, we only explored about a half mile section of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our guide Hop brought us into the cave where we saw stalactites and stalagmites shimmering silver with condensation. When we turned off our lights, it was pitch black for a few seconds until our eyes adjusted to the darkness. Then thousands of glowworms illuminated the ceiling in what looked like a clear night sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Glowworms are not worms at all. They are larvae of a special kind of fly known as a fungus gnat that become flies when they reach maturity. Midges, mosquitos and moths get trapped in glowworms\u2019 sticky dangling web snares, which become their meals. One mosquito is enough food for a glowworm to survive for two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We boarded a raft attached by cables and drifted down the river to a waterfall inside the cave where thousands of glow worms lit the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It looked like a galaxy of stars above us. It\u2019s hard to capture in our pictures how incredible this was. Imagine complete darkness and silence in a cold damp cave, floating on a river hearing a waterfall in the distance getting louder as you approach it and everywhere you looked these glowing creatures light the walls, ceiling and every crevice. It was like a space odyssey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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