Day 13: Around Waitomo Caves
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We had planned to do another hike in the Tongariro National Park
today (the Tama Lakes hike), but the weather was unfavorable. At first
it looked like it was just a bit foggy (not really a big deal because
we weren't going up very high), but as we stepped outside, all ready to
go, we found it was actually drizzling. So we changed our plans and
drove out to Waitomo Caves a bit early.
We were surprised to see that the area around Waitomo Caves
appeared to be mostly pastures and generally not very interesting. But
there are caves below the pastures, and that was where we were heading.
After stopping at our B&B, we walked on the Waitomo Walkway. We
were stupid and took the long way to get there, which basically
amounted to walking through pastures for an hour before we got to
anything interesting. Then we passed another parking lot, and the trail
suddenly was in a rainforest. A little bit before this, we realized we
had forgotten the camera. Whoops. The path took us by some small caves
and cool rock formations, but generally it wasn't worth the 3 hours it
took.
After finally getting back to our car, we drove further west to see
more sights. The next thing we stopped at was the Mangapohue Natural
Arch. It was only a 10 minute walk from the parking lot, but we were
mostly there when we realized we had forgotten the camera again! The
arch was originally part of a much larger cave that had mostly
collapsed. It was pretty impressive.
Our last stop was at the Marokopa Falls. It was a 10 minute walk
from the parking lot, and this time, we remembered the camera. We
weren't expecting to see much as the area was densely forested.
However, when we emerged from the trees, we stepped into this giant
clearing and were surprised by this 30m tall waterfall. It was probably
the most impressive one we saw in all of New Zealand.
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