Waitomo - Glowworms and the cutest Hobbit house Airbnb

Our next stop was 6 hours north to see the glowworms of Waitomo. 

But first a stay in a super cute Airbnb. 

Side note: Building your house partially into the ground is adorable, but not sinus friendly … 

The next morning, we left early for our tour to the Ruakuri and Waitomo Caves. It was good we had extra time because by the time we arrived at the parking lot, one of our rear tires was flat. Ugh. 

Thankfully, the spare was a full tire and there were many sympathetic and helpful fellow travelers. 

The tour through Ruakuri was 90 minutes long and was fascinating. We learned how the cave was found, the modern construction of footpaths and, of course, we learned about the lifecycle of the glowworms. 

Fun facts about glow worms:

• They are not worms, but fly larvae (aka, maggots).

• They use bioluminescence to attract prey that are trapped in caves. 

• They also use mucus (aka, snot) to create sticky strands that hang below them to snare prey trying to fly into the “night sky.” 

• Once they are fully adults, they only live for a few days since they don’t actually have mouths and can’t eat. 

These “fun facts” do not diminish their prettiness. 

Real fact: glowworms are beautiful. 

When we later toured the Waitomo Caves, which is much more famous than Ruakuri, we rode a boat through an underwater lake to see more of them. We had to keep completely silent because noise apparently makes the glowworms turn off their light.  

Also, no photos allowed.

On the boat ride, gliding through a dark grotto, we saw thousands of glowworms. Thousands and thousands of varying brightness suspended in the inky black above us. It looked exactly like the clearest of skies on an cold winter’s night. 

I was glad for the silence. 

It was so glorious it felt almost holy. 

This is a photo from the Ruakuri Cave. Waitomo was like this but times 1000 and brighter.