Cool Caves and Waterfalls

The next morning, we heard a ruckus and realized some birds were attacking a little hedgehog nearby. I felt bad for the little guy, but mammals are an introduced species and a threat to native animals. Besides, what was I going to do with a pet hedgehog?

It was gray and a bit drizzly, so we decided as long as we needed to square up our occupancy at the campsite at the Kiwi House anyway, we’d pay for admission. They had a nocturnal enclosure, so they have Kiwi who think it’s nighttime when it’s daytime, and it’s daytime when it’s nighttime. Confused? So were we when we heard all these strange birdcalls during the night. Once your eyes got adjusted to the Kiwi enclosure, you could see these strange, but large, birds pecking for food. They looked like they had fir more than feathers and they are quite large. We went on to explore the rest of the attraction and about half of it was a huge aviary. (Mom, you would have hated this!). The rest was outdoor cages of other native birds and a pond of eels, which looked rather crowded and unhealthy.

We headed back to our campervan and drove down to see the sights along the route to Waitomo Caves and beyond on Te Anga Road.

Following the directions in NZ Frenzy, we drove past the very tourist-oriented site of Waitomo Caves and turned left. We passed 2 or 3 buses parked at the Waitomo site. Then we found our way to the carpark for Aranui Cave. Then we followed the signs for Ruakuri Tunnels. It was amazing because so many unique features were in such close proximity to one another.

The pathway seemed to weave every which way, but we followed it as best we could and saw many short tunnels and streamways that were truly unique.

As we were returning to the car, we saw a group dressed in wetsuits and carrying innertubes on their way to black water rafting one of the caves beyond.

We continued west on Te Anga Road to visit the sights there. We stopped and explored the Mangapohue Natural Bridge loop trail. It took about 25 minutes and wandered through some amazing rock formations that had been created by the erosion of the limestone by the stream over thousands of years. The last half of the track is through pastureland.

Next was Pirpiri Cave that was a very short, 10-minute walk, from the roadway. DOC built a staircase so you can descend quite a way into the cave.

Then further down Te Anga Road is Marokopa Falls. The trail is a gradual downhill to a very pretty, 30-meter waterfall. The platform there gives you a great view. We could have continued further and explore the coastline, but we decided to save our energy and we returned to Kiwi Campground for our second night there.

The Adventure Continues>>>