Category: Travel

Auckland was the last stop on my tour. Five weeks of an incredible journey and adventure with some amazing people. A trip I’ll never forget!

I’d been looking forward to going in the glowworm caves for ages. It was like seeing the night sky… except they’re technically maggots and the glowing part is their poop. Not so magical when you think of it that way, but insanely beautiful nonetheless.

The collage below isn’t any of my pics, but it was worth it not to worry about camera settings for the glow worm parts and just enjoy the experience. The guide said most people spent more time trying to get the photos right and missed out on the experience itself, I can see how that could happen.

The guide would turn on the lights as we went through the cave, we did entire sections in absolute pitch black. It was scary but fun! It took a lot of playing with settings on my camera, but I got some cool shots out of it.

They put this here to see if the dripping water would make a dent in the top over the years. So far, after careful scrutiny over the years… it’s made it wet.

Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao means “the gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao”. We learned how to pronounce it, but I’m not sure I’d attempt it again!

We visited this thermal village, where native Maori still live, cook (hangi), attend church, swim and frequently have tourists walking through, but they welcome it and are eager to share their culture. They cook using the heat from the ground, and they use the thermal heat as a power source.

We got to see an incredible demonstration of Maori dance, song, poi dance and of course the haka! All with a traditional hangi meal. It was delicious and a highlight of my trip for sure!

I had to give the poi dance a shot!

Geothermal heat is a powerful thing. And smelly.

Water rushes over Huka Falls at a rate of 220,000 litres (58 000 gallons) per second.

Mount dooooooooom!

The well known beer was named after this bird!