Glow worm caves - Waitomo

Following a number of people's recommendations, we visited the glow worm caves at Waitomo in the North Island. They were amazing! We've never seen anything quite like them. The caves are dotted across the area, meaning they are usually owned by farmers. Consequently, we had to drive across the countryside to get there, arriving in a clearing full of gorse - we could have been at home! The cave we visited was apparently visited by David Attenborough when filming Blue Planet as it is one of the best examples of a glow worm cave in the world. When we first entered the glow worm cave, armed with hard hat and head light, our guide disappeared for a moment to slam an inflatable tube onto the water, making the most horrendous noise. Apparently it wasn't just to scare the hell out of us in a pitch dark cave, but to brighten the glow worm's lights. After a minute or so we began to see so many small lights on the ceiling above and the wall opposite , all of them getting brighter and brighter. It was so amazing to see. Our guide then showed us to the boat (as the glow worms live in a wet cave), which we boarded to journey through the cave and see more of the glow worms. The entire ceiling of the cave looked like it had been completely covered in white fairy lights for as far as we could see in both directions, and the light was reflected on the water, lighting the cave to a certain degree. A pretty amazing sight!