The Glowworms of Abbey Caves

We took the coastal tourist trail down to Ruakaka beach where we spent the morning chilling on the beach, reading our books and watching the tide roll in. Sadly though it was pretty cloudy and windy so we decided to head for the more sheltered subterranean world. We visited Abbey Caves, a limestone cave system where if you bring a torch and are brave enough you can explore the subterranean world. Within the caves we followed a stream into the cave, which was thankfully not much deeper than ankle depth. Over the many years the stream had carved out the tall cavernous underground cave system, which we were lucky enough to follow. Once you had scrambled away from the entrance and got deeper into the caves, the glowworms started to appear in their hundreds covering the walls and the high ceilings with a blue twinkling light. When the torches were turned off and your eyes adjusted to the dim light. the view truly was spectacular. I tried to capture these unusual worms on camera but it was very hard to do them justice. The best part about the caves was that apart from a few signs Abbey Caves was really an underdeveloped gem.

After the caves we explored the area surrounding the caves further. The scenery was gorgeous with native bush, lush flowery meadows and pointed limestone pinnacles rising from every turn. We took a detour on the way back via mount Tiger where you could see for miles in every direction. To end the day we walked down to Whangarei marina front to see all the boats tied up for the night, bobbing in the gentle current.