The Waitomo Caves is one of the top activities to do in North Island New Zealand, it makes sense that we give this a special review of it’s own. To see the rest of my itinerary click here and to see the review of the entire trip, click here.

Aside from being an absolute thrill-fest the entire activity, it’s reaped in history and some amazing sights that you won’t be able to see anywhere else.

We went with this company here.

Abseiling into Waitomo Caves:

We drove to the start location and after our safety briefing, we begun our abseil into the cave. 

It’s a 35m descent into the caves, totally safe but you’re in total control of your speed. You can see the first 5m whilst you’re on the platform but by the time you reach 5m down, you have to shimmy in between a smaller hole to get through to the cave. This was probably the most heart-racing moment. I was terrified my child-bearing hips wouldn’t fit through the gap. Of course it was all fine and once there was space, I used my legs to brace myself against the cave wall. By this point my arms were aching where I’d been holding the weird rope pulley thing, and gripping the rope in my right hand. The shaking didn’t help but when I finally made it to the bottom, I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Just an FYI to anyone who is slightly claustrophobic, the wetsuits provided are very tight around the chest (made worse when you have big boobs like me). Breathing is forcibly short and shallow which can be quite overwhelming. It’s good to have some mindfulness practice beforehand to keep in control if you’re prone to feeling a bit closed in and overwhelmed like me. 

Zip line (in pitch black as if an underground zip line wasn’t scary enough)

Once everyone made it down safely, it was the zip line. It’s not a long zip line by any account but they get you in position by asking you to step forward and sit suspended in the air via your harness while you wait for them to release you. They also ensure everyone turns their head torches off before they let you go. Flying through the darkness you’ll finally see the glow worms illuminating your way, but all too soon, you’ll come to a sharp stop causing your legs to swing up. This was so exhilarating. It was one of the best parts of the day. You have to blind trust that you’re not going to fall to your death – amazing.  

Here we had a hot chocolate and biscuit break – thank god, with all the adrenaline pumping around, we needed a little sugar in our blood streams. 

Tubing under the Glow Worms

We remove our harnesses now and jump straight into the water, using our rubber rings to cushion the fall. We then move deeper into the cave to see more and more glow worms. The main reason we wanted to do the excursion was the glow worms and oh my god, it does not disappoint. There were literally tens of thousands of glow worms throughout the cave. For around 15 minutes, we waded deeper and deeper into the cave. Once we waded through to the end, our guide linked us all up and dragged us back to the start so that we could just lie back and enjoy the view. He gave us some information on the glowworms which were surprisingly gross close up. 

After making our way back to the bottom of the zip line, we stayed in the water, but threw our rubber rings up to the next group. 

Drunk Alley

At this point, you’ll likely be quite cold. Luckily, you’ll be spending the next ten-fifteen minutes wading and climbing through water which gets the heart pumping again. They call this section of the cave “Drunk Alley” where you cannot see where your foot is going so you just fall over constantly – stumbling around like you’re drunk. Luckily the water is there to break your fall, and if you’re smart, you’ll just glide through on your belly like I did. 

At this point there is also a slide you go down and smaller tunnels to crawl through which is exciting. There are other ways through that don’t involve small spaces if this isn’t for you. 

The Labyrinth

After this section of walking, we arrive at the Labyrinth. By this point you’re probably feeling a little tired despite the snack breaks. The wetsuits and welly boots made it difficult to move with agility in the tight spaces. 

Our group chose to take on the waterfall which although extremely difficult was incredibly exciting. Our guide, Alistair, told us exactly where to put our feet and hands to pull ourselves up over the waterfall. I had my glasses on which made things very difficult to see due to the constant splashing but I still managed to make it up no problem. Luckily, (due to my exhaustion) it was the end of the trip. We finally saw daylight and made our way back to the van. 

We had a hot shower before returning to the main reception and then ate some more snacks.

Would I go again?

I would 100% recommend doing this tour. The guides were amazing at what they did, fun and really reassuring. This is an expensive excursion, but I think it’s well worth the money given the amount of safety requirements necessary.

For those a little less adventurous, there are other options to see the glow worms.