Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
BUS
($47, 3¼ hours, four daily), Te Awamutu ($21, 30 minutes, three daily), Te Kuiti ($20,
one hour, three daily) and Rotorua ($53, 2½ hours, two daily).
($20, 30 minutes), Hamilton ($25, one hour) and New Plymouth ($30, 3¼ hours).
Waitomo Shuttle
( 0800 808 279, 07-873 8279; one-way adult/child $12/7)
Heads to the
Waitomo Caves five times daily, coordinating with bus and train arrivals. Bookings re-
commended.
TRAIN
route between Auckland (from $48, 3¼ hours) and Wellington (from $99, nine hours) via
Hamilton ($48, 50 minutes).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Waitomo Caves
Even if damp, dark tunnels are your idea of hell, head to Waitomo anyway. The lime-
stone caves and glowing bugs here are one of the North Island's premier attractions.
The name Waitomo comes from
wai
(water) and
tomo
(hole or shaft): dotted across
this region are numerous shafts dropping into underground cave systems and streams.
There are 300-plus mapped caves in the area: the three main caves - Glowworm, Ruak-
uri and Aranui - have been bewitching visitors for over 100 years.
Your Waitomo experience needn't be claustrophobic: the electrically lit, cathedral-like
Glowworm Cave is far from squeezy. But if it's tight, gut-wrenching, soaking-wet, pitch-
black excitement you're after, Waitomo can oblige.
