An early start found us on the road by 8.30am heading for the famous caves at Waitomo which are lit by glowworms, and others where there are spectacular rock formations which are thousands of years old. The kids were particularly interested in the fact that the fossilised remains of a moa - a flightless bird similar to the emu but much, much bigger which became extinct over 100 years ago - had been discovered in the caves.
Our team with the South African team deep underground
The glowworm caves have appeared in David Attenborough's BBC Planet Earth series and I know why. They were amazing; we went in a dinghy with no lights so our eyes could become accustomed to the dark and it was like being under a very starry night sky. We got onto an inflatable dinghy and after the lights on our head torches were extinguished,a loud shot was fired. This was to cause a disturbance in the air to fool the glowworms into thinking food was around and consequently they glowed extra brightly for us. it was magical and my photography can't do justice to them so I didn't even try to take photos!
After the caves we were taken to Michal Were's dairy farm for lunch and then went to see their week-old calves. A reporter from the local newspaper, the Waitomo News, spoke to some of the students; her report can be found here:
http://www.waitomonews.co.nz/i
Daniel being sucked by a hungry calf
Local reporter interviewing Alistair
The afternoon was spent at the Otorohanga Kiwi House where they are working successfully to protect and breed the endangered national bird of New Zealand. Kiwis are nocturnal so we saw them in dim light, running around and foraging for food - but photography is forbidden. There were plenty of other birds and reptiles indigenous to New Zealand as well as the kiwis.
Tuataras well camouflaged (there are 3 here)
A Kea or Alpine Parrot
I don't know what this is but it was so noisy that I filmed it!
No comments:
Post a Comment