There are a few companies here in Waitomo that offer ‘adventures’ and ‘experiences’ to see the caves in multiple different ways...
We opted for the half day ‘Lost World Adventure’ with Waitomo Adventures. We couldn’t resist the photo opportunity that the website portrayed, even if it did mean we had to abseil 100m down into a cave! And then... climb a 30 metre vertical ladder to get out! What an adventure. We donned the harness, helmet and boots and listened to the safety instructions and off we went. We had 2 fantastic instructors with us who made us feel at ease the whole time and were very professional. There was 5 of us in our group and we all made the abseil together down into the cave. 100m is a very long way down and took us around 20mins. Descending slowly into the void, enabled us to encounter the amazing topography and formations of the sheer walls and the unusual floral and fauna on the way down as well as the sunlight filtering through the gaps reflecting the river Mangapu beneath us. We were soon to find out, that was the easy part! The next 2 hours were spent clambering over rocks and ledges, finding glowworms deep inside the caves and then the mighty 30 metre ladder climb out, aptly named the ‘stairway to heaven’. What a buzz! We loved this adventure and would highly recommend it. There are of course, lesser adrenaline fuelled experiences such as a walk and leisurely boat ride inside the Waitomo caves to see the glowworms, which we did last year and thoroughly enjoyed and also the black water rafting which I (Jemma) did 16 years ago and absolutely loved. Floating though the darkened caves in a wetsuit on a rubber tube, with glowworms lighting up the cave was a peaceful and tranquil experience like no other. A real special memory.
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