Middle Earth Adventures

McCrain's in Middle Earth
A travel dialogue of our adventures in New Zealand

In February 2004, Jim and Kathy McCrain began a five month oddessy in New Zealand. Kathy was transferred to Auckland for a temporary work assignment, and Jim followed her for moral support. (Isn't he just the greatest husband?) What follows is Jim's account of this adventure.

Another Exciting Weekend!

May 1 and 2

Well, we decided to spend another weekend doing something exciting. (Gee, who would have figured that one out!) Our plans were to go south to the little town of Turangi or National Park Village, spend the night and then do the famous Tongariro Crossing. This is rated as the most scenic one-day hike in New Zealand. It passes over an ACTIVE volcanic range. And by "active" I actually mean ACTIVE. Mt. Ruepehu last erupted in 1996! Mt. Tongariro has active steam craters on the top! It is a very challenging trip.

However, the weather was really bad so we didn't do that.

Instead, we headed back north to the town of Waitomo and visited the "Glow Worm" caves. (Sorry, no pictures allowed! I stole these glow worm images from the internet!) This cave is pretty small, but it is inhabited by worms that emit a bright blue light. There were thousands of them lining the roof of the cave. It was an amazing site! It was as if we had entered into an underground universe, complete with its own "night-sky!"

We then went to visit Arrunai Cave. This one is much bigger, and was actually a much more enjoyable tour for us. We got to see the indigenous "weta", which is a very large cricket-like bug. The pictures don't really relate the size, but the body of each of these "critters" was about one and a half inches long. (Some of the larger ones had a body of about 2 inches long.) The size of the antennae actually made them the size of my hand!

The cave itself is a "typical" cave. It is full of flow-stone formations, stalagmites and stalactites, pools, and all the other formations that you would expect to find in a limestone cavern. It was a short two-hour tour, but well worth the money.

After we left Waitomo, we headed north to the town of Otorohanga to visit the Kiwi House and Bird Sanctuary. This is a facility that keeps and cares for injured birds, and also houses a few of the rare and endangered native Kiwi birds. They also will arrange for a wild-Kiwi spotting tour, with a little advance notice.

As we were entering the sanctuary, we met one of the care-takers for the kiwis. She asked us if we would like to go into the area that was closed for the afternoon for a closer view of the kiwis. Imagine our shock when she lead us past the viewing room and around the corner. She opened the door to the STAFF ONLY room, had us put on some clean rubber boots, and then opened the door to the interior of the kiwi enclosure. Yes, we went INSIDE with the kiwis! The care-taker then left us ALONE in there for about 10 minutes! It was amazing! At one point, as I was standing still taking some pictures, one of the kiwi birds walked up and sniffed my shoe. (They make a very interesting "snuffing" sound!) It was only about three inches away from me! These are not tame birds, by the way. They are used to humans, but they are still very skittish. The caretaker was amazed when she heard how close the female kiwi had come to me. It was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience! I won't soon forget it!

The Adventure Begins!