On the way to our next adventure, we stopped at Kawakawa for a pit stop...they have some very interesting public facilities. Artsy, to say the least.
We also passed through the area where our guide's extended family lives (he has lots and lots of cousins) and we learned about the Maori wars that took place in the area. It was every tribe for itself, a lot of military strategy was involved, and some chiefs even traded women for muskets in order to win the battle.
We've been to Te Anau twice now and the town is known for its glow-worm caves, but we never went. So, in Bay of Islands we visited the Kawiti Family Glow-worm caves. The cave was discovered in the 17th century by a Maori chieftaness (apparently she didn't get traded). Her direct descendants still own the cave and operate guided tours. It's a live cave, or whatever you call one that's still wet and still developing. Inside, there are thousands of New Zealand Glow worms. These little worms weave intricate webs from their own saliva and hang at the bottom of the web. To attract prey (small flies and midges), their tails glow blue/green. They live for about one year, eleven months of that time being spent feeding. Then, in a month, they breed, lay eggs, and croak. To see them, we walked deep into the cave and doused the lights. No photography is allowed, probably because some fool would leave his flash on and mess up the whole environment. If you want to see them, look them up: Arachnocampa Luminosa. Sounds like something you'd learn at Hogwarts.
On to Auckland and a stroll to the New World grocery store that everyone knew is there, except it isn't. Good thing we knew where the Countdown store is. We stocked up on Minties and Barley Sugar candies and we're good to go.
