|
  | |  |
Simply Glowing!
Entry 51 of 88 | show all | print this entry |
|
We are trying to stay up-to-date on the blog but it is a challenge in New Zealand! We are having such a great time hiking and camping and being outdoors so it is hard to get inside and camp out in front of the computer. But, we want to share with you about this country because it truly is amazing.
One of the most adventurous afternoons we've spent in NZ up to this point was our caving adventure in a place called Waitomo. In Maori language, Wai means water and tomo means hole or shaft so as you can guess, Waitomo is famous for its caves! There are over 300 mapped caves in the area and many limestone caverns. Since NZ was all underwater a LONG time ago, the remaining karst landscape is heavily influenced by a history of stone (limestone, sandstone, mudstone) and water working against one another. In the caves, however, are the stars of the show, the glow worms. What is a glow worm you ask? It is actually not a worm but is the larvae of the fungus gnat which looks like a mosquito but does not have a mouth. Here is the quick and dirty life cycle of a fungus gnat:
-the gnat is born and quickly goes into the glow worm/larvae stage that lasts 6-9 months depending on how much food it catches for itself during this time. During this stage, it weaves itself into a "hammock" suspended from an overhand and waves sticky threads that are beaded with mucus drops and these hang from the ceiling of the cave. They trail down and catch insects that are attracted to the light of the glow worm.
The light? This is the coolest part. The glow worm emits a blue-green light from its tail that is actually a chemical reaction and this serves to draw its prey to itself! Even more interesting is that the light is quite efficient for them because it hardly produces any heat. (Usually the production of heat wastes energy) When the worm grows to the size of a matchstick it then goes into the pupa stage (cocoon) and 2 weeks later emerges as the adult fungus gnat. As an adult it has about 3 days to mate and then it dies! (the female lives a bit longer so she can lay her eggs but dies after that as well) WILD! I hope you feel smarter. At least having read this will make you appreciate the pictures a bit more.
Getting back to our adventure...we joined a 6-person, 1 guide tour called "Rap, Raft and Rock" which gave us the chance to abseil (rappel) 90 feet down into the cave, walk through the cave in the pitch dark to see the glow worms, tube down it (slowly) in innertubes, and rock climb out of the cave. We were decked out in the most outrageous gear, sporting crop pants over a wetsuit, sweet rubber boots and helmets with attached headlamps.
Our guide was a young Aussie named Tim who was crass and hilarious and made James and I laugh non-stop but I am not sure that the other 4 in our group thought he was as fun as we did.
Walking and tubing through the cave, nearly a hundred or more feet underground, was an amazing experience to see the stalagmites and stalactites that form based on the connection of water and limestone, however the best was definitely the glow worms. We had been walking through the water for a short while in the pitch dark, following our guide by holding onto one another while looking up at the glow worms above us when all of a sudden we stop and Tim, our guide, slams his innertube against the water to produce a loud pop sound that gave us all quite a scare. I thought he was just messing around and trying to be funny but in reality, what he was doing was shocking our nervous systems into a state of alertness producing adrenaline which causes the pupils to dilate...the end result is that our night vision improved and we could see so many more glow worms! It was a significantly different sight from the one we had just a few moments before the scare. Amazing.
While in the Waitomo area, we had some time to do a bit more driving to check out surrounding scenery...a gorgeous waterfall and rugged, black-sand beach are the ones that first come to mind. The highlight was definitely the surfing dog...look for his picture!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from New Zealand or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
5 votes 
