On my way back from Australia, I took a short detour via the North Island – New Zealand. My anticipation for this place was huge as I am a big fan of ferns and particularly of tree ferns, which originate from New Zealand.
So arrived in Auckland after a 3.5 hour flight and jumped straight into a rental car to drive down to Rotorua. Rotorua is famous for being in the middle of hundreds of geysers, bubbling mud pits and beautiful native fern forests and only a short drive away from our hotel we arrived at a brilliant geothermal area called: Waimangu Volcanic Valley. In Maori language Waimangu means ‘black water’ and now refers to a geothermal area that was created in 1886, when Mount Tarawera erupted in a huge explosion of lava and ashes. Waimangu valley is the youngest geothermal site in the world and has some of the most beautiful volcanic pools, multicoloured rock and native flora. Certainly the diversity of ferns and the evaporating water from the geysers and hot springs made the whole place very mystical indeed.
On our journey around North Island, we also stopped at Huka Falls, part of the Waikato River, which have the most striking and vibrant blue colour, before heading down to Wanganuli for a quick pit-stop to recharge and then head back up to Auckland, via the Glowworm caves of Waitomo.
The name Waitomo comes from the Maori words ‘wai’ meaning water and ‘tomo’ meaning hole. Waitomo is a collection of underground caves filled with stalagmites and stalactites and hundreds and thousands of little glowworms which light up the ceilings of the caves like stars in the night sky over Mt. Everest. The pearl necklace like strings are the glowworms larvae which hang from the ceilings of the cave and eventually morph into the beautiful glowworms that lighten up the cave ceilings once the lights are switched off.
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