my nearly-day-off / Waipu Caves
12/2022
Some days are funny like that. This one started rather frustrating and unorganized but turned out to feel like it was my birthday, really. So rewarding. We went to the Waipu Caves, late start. It rained the night before, which made the easy but steep hike demand a bit more concentration and muscle power.
We hiked through a lovely piece of bush with eager trees and a great view at the very end. In fact, not that I haven’t said it a thousand times already today, this has been the best visibility I’ve seen up here by far.
The Waipu Caves are right at the beginning of the walk. We decided to go in there afterwards. I found it quite refreshing to be able to dip our feet into the cave water and wade through it to find deeper caves. Surprisingly high cavity, interesting stones. Following along the water we got deeper into the cave and turned off the lights to find a ton of glow worms! I’ve seen glow worms in New Zealand before, but not that many, it was a bit unexpected. Felt exactly like sitting in a Planetarium.
Then a dip at Ruakaka beach and a small detour to Whangarei to pick something up and eating at the turkish place. Incredibly well rounded day – my nearly-day-off.