Day 4: Bay of Islands to Waitomo Caves

Day 4 started off with a big hair contest between myself and Brian.  We both have curly hair and the humidity in New Zealand would put Georgia to shame.  My hair has tight little ringlet curls that only come out when I visit Amy on the coast. Here, I look like Shirley Temple!  Back to the big hair comp.  Brian definitely is sporting the bigger fro, however I've got the market cornered on the "Q-tip" factor (i.e. frizz).

The majority of the day was spent in the car driving from point A to point B.  We've gotten a fair amount of our share of countryside viewing.  First of all, NZ doesn't have all the hustling and bustling highways we have at home.  Unless you are right in the middle of a big city, the landscape is totally bucolic.  I've seen more sheep and cows in the last few days than I think I have in the rest of my lifetime put together.

We arrived in Waitomo in the late afternoon.  Our hosts were Janet and Collin who have us a suggestion for a short hike to get our legs stretched before dinner.  The hike was just beautiful.  It was our first time really getting into the heart of the New Zealand bush.  I can not begin to truly describe the beauty of the area we were in.  The land is comprised of limestone outcroppings and we have several tunnels and rock formations to explore.  There was also a river that wove in and out of the rock formations and disappeared into the earth at one point.  The best part of this trail was what happened when the sun went down.

After dinner, we went back to the trail with flashlights (torches) to the swinging bridge (which didn't swing).  When we turned off the flashlights, the whole place lit up with glow worms!  It was sooo amazing.  They lined the walls of the rocks all around us and made the place look like we were surrounded by stars.  And the sky was clear, giving a spectacular view of the stars overhead too.  It was just magical ... one of those moments you wish would never end.  After checking out the glow worms, Brian and I continued on the rest of the trail, finding the night exploration to be very intriguing.  We were accompanied by the local, probably somewhat domesticated possum as we wondered around.  There was one point where we were literally 2 feet from the little guy.  Why we didn't take a picture is beyond me at this point.  Darn it!