Glowworms and an unexpected cave surprise

In spite of our problems with the water and the grief it gave us, we made the most of a fabulous sunset last night, toasting our worries away.

Bed beckoned early for us, and it's a good job sense of smell becomes somewhat subdued when living with the same person because neither of us washed before bed. A tad difficult when one had no water! Teeth were done though, and swilled out in under a quarter cup of water! Three am and suddenly an alarm sounded. Both sat up wondering what the earth was happening. I was sure it was coming from the toilet block and wondered who in their right mind would alarm toilets!! But I forgot we had turned the motorhome around and it was actually the canoe centre where the lights were flashing. So there we were, in the middle of nowhere and imagine my surprise when within minutes a police car turned up! Torchlight in hand he walked all around the building, the alarm stopped, and he drove off. No idea what had caused the problem but with peace restored it was then gone 8 am before we stirred.

First stop find another dump point. Found one on the road to Cambridge with drinkable water so the first thing was to fill the tank in the hopes that a full tank would help get the pump going. Gosh we were relieved when suddenly water came from the taps. Another complete flush through of the tank and finally we could have a wash with both of us smelling sweet once more.

Made our way to Waitomo Caves. Gave these caves a miss last time we were in New Zealand as we were advised they were not the best to see. It was decided we would make our own minds up and booked to see the three caves. Glowworm cave first with its boat ride to see the glowworms, Then Aranui where photos were allowed and lastly Ruakuri but that's not until the morning.

 So the Glowworm gave was a tad disappointing. Tours every 5 minutes there were too many people on each tour and each tour had to wait for the next to move on. The boat ride was okay but we saw far more glow worms at our caving experience back in 2016.

Leaving the boat.

 The Aranui Cave was much more to our liking and with it being late afternoon, only a handful went on the tour.

Waiting for the Aranui tour

At the entrance

 Took us all of 10 minutes to reach the campsite for the night. Recommended by the girl at the Glowworm caves, it was a good job we arrived early. Not a space to be had anywhere now!

View from the site

And unexpected wildlife seen in the glowworm cave,

A cave Weta