Leslie and David's Wanderings: 1 February 2024 Waitomo to Rotorua North Island NZ

We woke up early and proceeded to get the motor home ready for the road. We arrived at the Ruakuri Cave Visitor Center and explored the area while we waited for our tour to start at 9:30. Our guide Weh (Short for a very long Polynesian name) gave us a history of the cave. The name, Ruakuri, stands for “cave with dogs in it” since some Polynesian hunters were attacked by dogs coming out of this cave. Weh’s great, great, grandfather explored the cave and led some of the first tours (before the government stepped in and took them over). The cave had some nice formations but the two highlights were the Glow Worms and the underground river. The Glow Worms are luminescent when they are in the larva stage. They spin long tendrils which hang below their cocoon and when flies are attracted to the luminesces they are caught in the tendrils and eaten by the larva. When the larva turns into a fly, it has no digestion system so it can only live 3-4 days to breed before they die. The river that runs through the cave is also used to give float tours in the dark. We were on a ledge over the river and we could hear them floating by but only saw dim shadows in the luminous from the Glow Worms. The water is very cold. There are water falls they have to go over in complete darkness. No thank-you!

After our cave tour, we headed back toward Hamilton and stopped at the Vilagrad Winery to do our first tasting in New Zealand. The red wines were not very good, but the whites were very nice and we walked away with a Rose and a Charminer to drink later. We then headed for Rotorua to visit the thermal features. When we arrived, we discovered the thermal “valley” was only accessible by a 1.5 hour guided tour at $175NZD per person! That was crazy! We decided that having been to the greatest collection of guizers and thermal features in the world for free (Yellowstone NP), we were not going to spend that kind of money for a much less rated experience. Disappointed, we headed back towards town to visit another vineyard, Volcano Hills Vineyard. After spending some time trying to find it since it was hidden behind other buildings, we walked up and were greeted by the owner. He explained that he could not do tastings in the vineyard because it was against the law, but that we could take the $50 per person gondola ride up to the top of the mountain where the tasting room was. He apologized for the inconvenience but it was the land lord’s rules. We talked to him for 15-20 minutes. He explained that New Zealand was known for its white wines, particularly Sauvignon Blancs. The Grapes for red wines don’t grow well on New Zealand due to the cold. He also told us about some chemicals called “Velcorin” that many American wineries use to halt the fermentation process verses filtering out the bacteria. The Velcorin is deadly in large doses and can be absorbed through the lungs, sinuses and eyes. Nasty stuff and we are drinking it in our American Wines. We then headed to the Tasman Holiday Park, our home for the night.