Day 12 - Waitomo Caves

We set out early the next morning for our noon appointment with the glowworm caves, and soon discovered there wasn't much in the 150 km north of us.  We had a very minimal breakfast
at a truck stop, but made good time to the Legendary Blackwater Rafting company.  It was quite busy, and we soon were suited up for cave tubing.  Our guide was Katie, a girl
from Boston who'd studied in NZ and later moved there.  We were suited up with some very well-used looking wetsuits, Ashley, in particular, got one that didn't fit very well.

We headed down the cave, tubes in hand, and entered.  The glowworms (or glowmaggots, to be more correct) did indeed look like stars in the night sky, little glowing specs
of bluish-green.  The cave complex itself was fantastic, and we saw only a small part of it.  The climbed and tubed in alternating sections until we reached a very long float
out of the cave, which was done only by light of the glowworms.  Ashley, however, was having a very bad time of it and was very cold.  She ended up being pushed out by one of the
guides.

Afterwards, we purchased photos and headed to the local Kiwi House, which guaranteed "Kiwis always on exhibit" and indeed they delivered; they're two kiwis were up and prancing
about in that adorably awkward manner of theirs.  There were several other species of bird and lizard that we saw, including wooden teals and blue ducks.  After that, we departed
northwards toward Auckland.  The drive there was rather long an uneventful, the Kiwis are either working on or have only partially completed several of their freeways, so often
they only lasted for a few kilometers before reverting to two lane roads.

We arrived in Auckland, checked in the same hotel we'd stayed at on the first day (I let Jen park the car this time) and went to dinner at the same Italian place, which was pretty
good once more.