Feb 12, 2012 Sunday Day 3 Waitomo

We regularly get up at 6 and leave the campsite by 7:30.   This morning Peter started on the right side of the road, and out came Marcel's thumb.  Those two make a great team.  After driving a few hours, we stopped for breakfast at the "Swinging Cow". Delicious bacon and eggs.  Our mh runs on diesel and we pay about 1.50 per litre here.
Arrived in Waitomo at 2:45.  Love the Top 10 campgrounds.  Hot water and clean
bathrooms.  That is the only campgrounds we camped at so far except the first one.
We bought a membership for $40. for a 10% discount at all Top 10 campgrounds in
NZ, and all Big 4's in Australia.  Plus we got $40. discount on  the ferry to the S.
Island.  Win, win.   Off to the Waitomo Caves, to explore the amazing Glowworms,
and walk through the limestone caves.  It was like looking at the stars at
night. Thousands of little lights above us.  They are actually insects.  Excellent tour.
Supper, a game of euchre, and in bed at 9:30.  400 k today.

It was impossible to get around these cow.  Every time Peter moved to the right...so did the cows.

Down into the caves to see the glowworms. 

This was the mother of all spiders.  As big as your hand.  

The glowworms are the larval stage in the life of an insect called the fungus gnat, which is similar in appearance to the mosquito.  Although the glowworm is most spectacular in caves they are also common outside.
They produce a light that they use to attract insects lost in the dark, which they catch and eat. 
There are four stages in the glowworms life:  egg, larvae, pupa and adult fly.  The entire cycle takes 10-11 months to complete, about 9 months of which is in the larvae stage.   

Limestone 

A huge fossil. 

We heard a noise below, and there were people with water suits following the underground streams.  Yikes.