New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 11: Ruakuri Visitor Centre, Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Waitomo Homestead and drive to Devonport

On day 11 of our travels in New Zealand, we visited yet another highlight of this trip – Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Although it was a little expensive at $89 per person, it was well worth it. Find out more in this post!

New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 11 – Ruakuri Visitor Centre and Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Carpark to Waitomo Glowworm Caves via Ruakuri Visitor Centre

Ruakuri Visitor Centre for Waitomo Glowworm Caves Visit

Waitomo Glowworm Caves Cafe and Restaurant

General New Zealand Souvenirs available at Souvenir Shop of Ruakuri Visitor Centre

This morning, we left Huhu Chalet at 10am to Ruakuri Visitor Centre. Here, you’ll be able to find a restaurant and visitors were already dining here when we arrived this morning. There’s also a souvenir shop where you can get not only Waitomo Glowworm Cave souvenirs but also New Zealand souvenirs as well.

Tour Guide Ciarne giving us a brief before entering Waitomo Glowworm Caves

As we were a little early for our 11am session, we were able to be slotted into the 1030am group. Our guide this time was Ciarne (pronounced as Xi-Arn) who laid down the rules for the visit – including not to touch the cave formations as oil secretions from our skin can damage the limestone in the caves.

Descending through a circular pathway down to Waitomo Glowworm Caves entrance

Soon we were brought into the cave tunnel system where we were to descend into the caves via this spiral drum ramp – a beautiful orange tunnel that brings visitors to the start of the caves proper.

Tom staring down into the descent to Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Rock with actual drop of water at the end of the descent to Waitomo Glowworm Caves

At the bottom of the orange spiral drum descent, you’ll come to rock with water dripping over it. Visitors are allowed to sprinkle themselves with the water before and after the visit.

Stalactites that grow from the ceiling of Ruakuri Cave at Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Flowstones - sheetlike deposits at Ruakuri Cave at Waitomo Glowworm Caves — Flowstones – sheetlike deposits at Ruakuri Cave at Waitomo Glowworm Caves

More Stalactites within Waitomo Glowworm CavesMore Stalactites within Waitomo Glowworm Caves

One of the first limestone formations (made of calcite / carbonate mineral deposits) are the stalactite and stalagmite formations. The Stalactites actually grow from the cave ceiling down while the Stalagmites grow from the cave floor up. One way to remember is that Stalactite has a “T” that represents growing from the Top downwards while Stalagmites has a “G” that represents growing from the Ground upwards.

The other interesting formation are the Flowstones or sheetlike deposits that are formed by water and wind. According to our guide Ciarne, these take twice as long to form as compared to the pillar formations mentioned int he previous paragraph.

Soon it was time for the main highlight of the tour…

Spaced out glow worms inside Waitomo Glowworm Caves NZ

Clusters of glow worms inside Waitomo Glowworm Caves review

As mentioned in our previous post, if you’re staying at Huhu Chalet or Waitomo Caves Guest Lodge, remember to drop by the Waitomo Caves Museum inside the Waitomo Caves Visitor Centre for a small sum of $5. There you’ll be able to learn that glow worms are actually

LARVAE OR MAGGOTS OF FLIES!!!

These larvae or maggots actually spend 9 months of their lives feeding within the caves. The silk threads are formed by the mucus of the maggots and act like “fishing lines” that attract smaller insects, causing to be stuck to these sticky mucus threads. They then spend only 2 days as flies, laying up to 120 eggs before they perish and the cycle repeats.

Back to the glow worms, they are actually quite territorial in nature. Hence, you’ll also notice that the lights are quite spaced out. They also have the tendency to eat the eggs of each other if they are hatched earlier. The stronger the blue lights emitted, the hungrier the glow worms are as well…

Calcite Carbonate formations inside Waitomo Caves New Zealand

Natural layering formations inside Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Fossils inside Waitomo Glowworm Caves - evidence of Noah's Flood in ancient times — Fossils inside Waitomo Glowworm Caves – evidence of Noah’s Flood in ancient times

Early cave explorers inside Waitomo Cave System

Plaque of Ruakuri Caves outside Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Towards the end of the visit, we were told of the story of James Holden that linked to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. In 1904, James Holden actually started to run tours to the Waitomo Caves. However, the Government caught wind of this and decided to take back the caves as visitors were started to extract “souvenirs” such as the stalagmites for themselves. However, the story didn’t end there. James Holden’s grandson, Jimmy Holden then took the government to court and actually won. He then put up “no trespassing signs” which can still be seen today in the caves.

The tour ended at about 1210pm or about 1.5 hours. Love the “blue stars in the night skies” by the glow worms – though now that we know they’re actually maggots, they’re a little less cute &#128517

New Zealand Travel Itinerary Day 11 – Waitomo Homestead

For lunch, we headed to Waitomo Homestead – known for their pies!

Inside Waitomo Homestead Cafe and Eatery

More seating both inside and outside Waitomo Homestead

Waitomo Homestead sandwiches, panini and pasta

This time we ordered the minced meat pie ($4.5), pork spring roll ($8), thick banana shake ($7.5) as well as the ale steak and cheese pie ($4.5). East India Pale Ale ($10) rounded up lunch this afternoon.

Waitomo Homestead Ale Steak and Cheese Pie ($4.5)

Waitomo Homestead draft beer - East India Pale Ale ($10 a pint) — Waitomo Homestead draft beer – East India Pale Ale ($10 a pint)

As expected, the pies were excellent. Tasty, meaty with a nice outer crust. On the other hand, the spring roll was expensive and tasted meh. Do not be as adventurous as us. Focus on the pies.

In terms of ambience, we love the lodge feel as well as the outdoor seats where you can get fresh air of the countryside. Overall, a good rest stop before we continue our journey north back to Auckland New Zealand.

Rest stop for a latte just before we arrived at Devonport New Zealand

Enroute from Waitomo to Devonport New Zealand

We reached Devonport at about 4pm this afternoon. We headed straight for our AirBnB and were very satisfied with the size and cleanliness of the room…

Devonport Airbnb - Clean Bathroom with Towels — Devonport Airbnb – Clean Bathroom with Towels

Devonport Airbnb - Clean and Beautiful Shower — Devonport Airbnb – Clean and Beautiful Shower

While we settled into the room, we also watched a little bit of The Chase on TV. With regard to the AirBnB, there was a wardrobe, big bathroom, living space and cooking facility. After we checked out the premise, we drove round downtown Devonport before visiting Takarunga / Mount Victoria…

Observing the parking signs at Devonport New Zealand

We learnt a little bit about parking signs in New Zealand during this trip. For instance, this sign says

“P120 / 8am – 6pm / Mon – Sun”

So this means that from Mondays to Sundays, during the times of 8am to 6pm, you can park for 120 minutes or 2 hours. It also means that if you’re parking after 6pm, there is no time limit or that technically, you can park continuously at 4pm.

Views of Auckland from Devonport New Zealand

We parked and strolled a little about downtown Devonport. Here, you’ll be able to head to the waters and on a clear day, be able to have a beautiful view of Auckland, right across the waters.

Walking up Takarunga / Mount Victoria Devonport

To round up our visits for the day, we headed up Takarunga aka Mount Victoria of Devonport. Yet another “Mount Victoria”, the third of our visit this time (i.e. Wellington, Auckland, Devonport). Strolling up the gravel pathway, we were treated to amazing views of Auckland from Devonport…

Views of Auckland from Devonport Mount Victoria

Views from Mount Victoria Takarunga Devonport

2bearbear at Mount Victoria Takarunga Devonport

At Mount Victoria Devonport (Takarunga), you’ll also be able to find the Fort of Mount Victoria as well as model of the landscape around Devonport…

Model of Landscape around Devonport New Zealand

Map of Landscape around Devonport New Zealand

Information of Fortress at Mount Victoria Devonport

Cannon of Fortress at Mount Victoria Devonport

The weather was fantastic this evening as we were able to see the sun coming through the clouds. We also saw a gun, a station and a writer’s guild up on Mount Victoria Devonport.

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Steak Dinner at AirBnb Devonport New Zealand

As we had the cooking facilities at the AirBnB this evening, we decided to make our own NZ Steak Dinner since we were able to get really good quality steaks from the supermarkets. This time, we bought a thick NZ Sirloin Steak ($30 – for 2) and a bottle of wine ($14), dip for $4 and a pre-packaged soup $4 that could be warmed up via the microwave.

Turned out to be a perfect dinner as great beef just needed to be lightly seared. It was tender, juicy and satisfying – especially when we made it with love on our own. The romantic dinner with wine rounded up our evening on day 11 of our travels in New Zealand. Stay tuned on day 12 of our travels where we would be basically chilling and taking things down a notch – even squeezing in time for a movie at the old movie theatre – The Vic Devonport.

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