After checking out the sights around Rotorua and Tongariro National Park, our next stop on New Zealand’s North Island was Waitomo, where you can see the famous glowworm caves! Those are a fantastic experience, but we found plenty of other things to do in the beautiful Waitomo area as well.
(1) Glowworm Tour Options
There are many options to see glowworms around Rotorua, including the very popular Waitomo Glowworm Caves 45-minute boat tour. The more adventurous may want to consider The Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company, with whom you can climb or abseil through caves and float beneath the glowworms in inner tubes. As for us, we ended up choosing Spellbound Glowworm and Cave Tour and couldn’t have been happier with our experience! This tour is longer than most of the others and for smaller groups – up to 12 people – on two private caves located on a farm outside Waitomo. The first cave allows you to walk and raft under thousands glowworms, and the second cave is full of interesting formations and even some ancient moa bird bones! Our guide was fantastic and as an added bonus we were able to take photos of the glowworms (which most of the other tours don’t allow). 🙂
(2) Marokopa Falls
About a 40 minute drive from Waitomo down winding, scenic Te Anga Road, you’ll find the short hiking path to Marokopa Falls, which has to be one of the most picturesque waterfalls I’ve ever seen! We spent a long time there taking long-exposure waterfall photos and just enjoying the peaceful setting. If we didn’t have a glowworm tour to catch, I probably could have spent all day! Best of all, it was completely free to visit.
(3) Mangapohue Natural Bridge
Also along Te Anga Road lies the trail to Mangapohue Natural Bridge. This natural formation of double limestone arches (one large one over a smaller one, which you can see in one of the above pictures) is located in a really beautiful forested area with a stream running through it. I’m told you can even see glowworms there at night, and like Marokopa Falls it is free to visit. Besides the natural bridge formation and the beautiful views along the trail, we also saw a variety of wildflowers and oyster fossils larger than my hand!
(4) Piripiri Cave Walk
The final natural attraction along Te Anga Road was Piripiri Cave Walk (which like the others is free to visit!). A short trail through rainforest landscape will lead you to the entrance of the cave, then you can climb down the wooden stairs to explore inside. It is a self-guided tour, so be sure to bring a flashlight in order to see the cave formations!
(5) Seeing kiwis
New Zealand’s national symbol, the endemic kiwi bird, is unique in so many ways. There are a few different options to see them on the North Island, but one of the best has to be Otorohanga Kiwi House & Native Park, which is located only ten miles from Waitomo. They have several nocturnal enclosures housing kiwi birds, and we were lucky enough to see three of the four that currently live there awake and active (which can be difficult since they sleep 18 hours per day!). There are plenty of other native birds and reptiles to see there as well, so be sure to stop by if you’re in the Waitomo area!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick look at some of the attractions in the Waitomo, New Zealand area. The glowworm caves make it a must-stop if you’re touring the North Island of New Zealand, but there are some other sights that shouldn’t be missed in the area too!
Have you visited New Zealand? Did you make it to Waitomo, or see any glowworms? Let me know in the comments!