Things to do in The King Country
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Glow-worm Cave
The 45-minute guided tour of the Glow-worm Cave, which is behind the visitor centre, leads past impressive stalactites and stalagmites into a large cavern known as the Cathedral. The acoustics are so good that Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the Vienna Boys Choir have given concerts here. The highlight comes at the tour’s end when you board a boat and swing off onto the river. As your eyes grow accustomed to the dark you’ll see a Milky Way of little lights surrounding you – these are the glowworms. You can see them in lots of other places in NZ, but the ones in this cave are something special. Conditions for their growth are just about perfect so there are a remarkable number of …
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Green Glow Eco-Adventures
Green Glow Eco-Adventures runs customised, small-group Waitomo tours, putting caving, rock-climbing, abseiling, photographic or glowworm spin on your day (or all of the above!). It’s based in Te Kuiti, 20 minutes from Waitomo.
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Ruakuri Cave
Culturally significant Ruakuri Cave has an impressive 15m-high spiral staircase, removing the need to trample through the Maori burial site at the cave entrance (as tourists did for 84 years). Tours lead through 1.6km of the 7.5km system, taking in vast caverns with glowworms, subterranean streams and waterfalls, and intricate limestone structures. For as long as this cave has been open to the public, people have described it as spiritual – some claim it’s haunted. It’s customary to wash your hands when leaving to remove the tapu. Tours depart from the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company.
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Waitomo Adventures
Waitomo Adventures offers five different cave adventures, with discounts for various combos and for advance bookings. The Lost World (four-/seven-hour trip $270/395) trip starts with a 100m abseil down into the cave, then – by a combination of walking, climbing, spider-walking, inching along narrow rock ledges, wading and swimming through a river – you take a three-hour journey through a 30m-high cave to get back out, passing glowworms, amazing rock formations, waterfalls and more. The price includes lunch (underground) and dinner. The shorter version skips the wet stuff and the meals.
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Legendary Black Water Rafting Company
Legendary Black Water Rafting Company claims to have invented black-water rafting! Its Black Labyrinth tour (three hours, $110, minimum age 12) involves floating in a wetsuit on an inner tube down a river that flows through Ruakuri Cave. The highlight is leaping off a small waterfall and then floating through a long, glowworm-covered passage. The trip ends with showers, soup and bagels in the cafe. The Black Abyss tour (five hours, $215, minimum age 16) is more adventurous and includes a 30m abseil into Ruakuri Cave and more glowworms, tubing and cave climbing.
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Huhu
Easily the best choice, you won’t be disappointed if you come here twice a day. Slick and modern with charming service, it has great views from the afternoon-tipple-friendly terrace and sublime contemporary NZ food. Graze from a seasonal tapas-style menu (large or small plates) of Kiwi specialities such as rewana bread and beetroot-coloured urenika potatoes. Free wi-fi, too. Downstairs the Huhu Store sells designer NZ gifts.
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Spellbound
Spellbound is a good option if you don’t want to get wet and want to avoid the big groups in the main caves. This three-hour tour and raft-ride departs from the pyramid-like booking office in the middle of town (usually 10am, 11am, 2pm and 3pm, varying seasonally) and goes through parts of the glowworm-filled Mangawhitiakau cave system, 12km south of Waitomo.
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Otorohanga Kiwi House Native Bird Park
The Otorohanga Kiwi House Native Bird Park has a nocturnal enclosure where you can see active kiwi energetically digging with their long beaks, searching for food. This is the only place in NZ where you can see a Great Spotted Kiwi, the biggest of the three kiwi species. Other native birds, such as kaka, kea, falcon, morepork and weka, are also on show.
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Museum of Caves
This museum has excellent exhibits explaining how caves are formed, the flora and fauna that thrive in them and the history of Waitomo's caves and cave exploration. Displays include a cave model, fossils of extinct birds and animals that have been discovered in caves, and a cave crawl. Free entry is included with various activities.
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Black Water Rafting Waitomo Caves Tour
by Viator
If you seek an adventure tour that plays with your senses and provides an unforgettable thrill then this tour is for you. Choose between the Black Abyss or the …Not LP reviewed
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Aranui Cave
Three kilometres west from the Glow-worm Cave is Aranui Cave. This cave is dry (hence no glowworms) but compensates with an incredible array of limestone formations. Thousands of tiny ‘straw’ stalactites hang from the ceiling. It’s an hour’s walk to the caves, otherwise the visitors centre can arrange transport.
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Altura Gardens & Wildlife Park
At this privately run five-acre park you can chat with a cockatoo, outstare a morepork or pat a blue-tongue lizard. There are 85 species of birds and animals here, but it’s not a zoo – expect llamas and sheep rather than lions and giraffes. It also runs leisurely horse treks.
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Bosco Cafe
It’s not damning it with faint praise to say that Bosco is the coolest place in Te Kuiti. This excellent industrial-chic cafe offers great coffee, tempting food (try the spinach, feta and pine-nut tart) and sweet service. It comes into its own on a sunny afternoon when the doors swing open onto Brook Park.
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Origin Coffee Station
It’s a long way from Malawi to the old Otorohanga railway station, but the beans don’t seem to mind. The folks at Origin are dead serious about coffee, sourcing, importing and roasting it themselves and then delivering it to your table, strong and perfectly formed, and possibly with a slice of cake.
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Caveworld
Caveworld runs the Black Magic (2½ hours, $124) black-water rafting trip through glowworm-filled Te Anaroa. You’ve also got the choice of a day or (glowworm-illuminated) night abseil down a 45m crevice called The Canyon (two hours, night/day $144/175). Various combo discounts apply.
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Tainui Historical Society Museum
The town’s Tainui Historical Society Museum has an interesting collection of old photographs and artefacts (pianolas, whale bones, dusty photos of the Queen) from the time when this once-isolated outpost was a coal and lumber shipping port for settlements along the river.
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Out Of The Fog Cafe
Transport this uber-stylish cafe into any major city and it would get by just fine. The food is delicious and reasonably priced, the coffee is excellent and the electric fire will make you want to linger on cold days. Sadly, it’s just open on weekends.
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Riverside Lodge
On the riverbank just off King St, this family-friendly bar and bistro serves excellent shellfish, substantial pub meals or mini pizzas for a filling snack ($9). There are a couple of pool tables and the Eagles’ ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ on the juke.
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Shearing Shed
At the Shearing Shed, big, fluffy, surprisingly sociable Angora rabbits are sheared for an audience (12.45pm daily). It’s SPCA-approved and the rabbits really don’t seem to mind. The store sells Angora products.
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Awakino Hotel
The river spills into the Tasman at Awakino (population 60), a small settlement where boats shelter in the estuary while locals find refuge at the down-to-earth (or down-to-sea?) Awakino Hotel.
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Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre
Adjoining the i-SITE, this Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre has excellent exhibits explaining how caves are formed, the flora and fauna that thrive in them and the history of Waitomo’s caves and cave exploration.
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River Run Cafe
The River Run Cafe has whitebait on the menu during the season (mid-August till the end of November), as well as everything from burgers, pies and cooked meals to ice cream and homemade cakes.
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Flax
Some locals say this place ain’t what it used to be, but it’s still the only place in Taumarunui where you can get a haloumi and semidried tomato tart. There are art-hung walls and an inventive modern menu.
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Brook Park
On the northwestern boundary of Te Kuiti, hill-topped Brook Park has a 40-minute walk leading up the slope to the site of historic Matakiora Pa, constructed in the 17th century.
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Waitomo Wanderer
Waitomo Wanderer operates a daily return services from Rotorua or Taupo, with optional caving and tubing add-ons (packages $188 to $288). Shuttle-only services are $45 each way.
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