Retirement gives a person an extremely vantage position to view life. You can look back leisurely and examine all that one has done without any rancor. Then I realized, I had hordes of stories to tell, analyze various incidents, make up a few and so on. I have written on many aspects of life – grand children, marriage, art of drinking, cooking, bull fights and the list is endless. My childhood days in Bengaluru figures prominently. Apart from life and people, I have also written extensively about our travel to various places in India and abroad. Blog also includes a few articles about my life as a naval officer. Incidentally the blog is read by viewers from 83 different countries.
We Visited the Waitomo Glow Worm Cave, Lake Taupo and Napier – 22May 2016
The drive from Rotorua to the famous Waitomo Glow Worm Caves took us around 2h, traveling 150 Km through some wonderful terrain. In spite of having to travel long distances we were determined to visit the famous Cave.
We lost our way in spite of GPS – Ha Ha
The rolling hills
A lovely drive
Never ending meadows
The glow worm, Arachnocampa luminosa, is unique to New Zealand. Thousands of these tiny creatures radiate their unmistakable luminescent light nestled in the stalactites, stalagmites and other cave formations. Water which drops from fissures in the ceiling leave behind limestone deposits. The stalagmites form upward from the floor while the stalactites form from the ceiling downwards. When these formations connect they are called pillars or columns and if they twist around each other they are called helciti. These cave decorations take millions of years to form given that the average stalactite grows one cubic centimeter every 100 years.
The cave entrance
The entrance to the cave
As we are coming out
The trip begins with a detailed explanation of the caves, formations and the worms. Then we are taken around the cave in a boat and transported into a very different kind of experience. The glow worms create an alien atmosphere. The boat takes you through this surreal and dreamlike world in total darkness and pin drop silence. Photography is not allowed as light and sound harm the growth of worms. After 45 m of this unforgettable experience we emerge from yet another opening to the world outside.
End of a memorable experience
We then departed for Lake Taupo located 150 Km from the caves. It lies in the caldera of the Taupo Volcano, with a surface area of 616 square kilometers; it is the largest lake by surface area in NZ. Lake Taupo has a perimeter of approximately 193 kilometers and its deepest point is 186 meters. It is drained by the Waikato River.
We spent a couple of hours relaxing in a lake side restaurant, sipping beer and enjoying fish and chips.
View of the lake
Trying to capture the lake
Weather plays a very important role
Effect of lovely NZ beer
Content with life
Adventure sports
Jai all pleased
Naveens turn to be happy
Never ending lake
Spanish Sun Downer Motel
View from the room
Outdoor View
We had to drive another 140 km through dense hilly forests before coming down to Napier. Napier’s major tourist attraction is its architecture, which draws Art De
co and architecture enthusiasts from around the world.
Tiredness written all over
After an extremely tiring day we checked into a very cute motel – Sundowner Spanish Motel – an extremely apt name for tired souls. In all we had driven 450Km.
The 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in NZ at 10:47 am on 3 February, killing 256 people and devastating the Hawke’s Bay region. It remains New Zealand’s deadliest natural disaster. Centered 15 km north of Napier, it lasted for two and a half minutes and measured a magnitude of 7.8.
One of our guides told us that NZ experiences a staggering 20,000 minor earthquakes every year. As a result, New Zealand has very stringent building regulations.
Incidentally, when we were planning this trip, Christchurch suffered an earthquake on 14 February.
On 11 May 2016, the last earthquake measuring 4.8 magnitude, took place 6 km from Masterton, Wellington NZ.
Captain MV Prabhakar is an alumnus of National Defence Academy. He was commissioned in the Indian Navy on 01 Jan 1970. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and completed his post graduation at the Collage of Naval Warfare, Mumbai. He participated in the 1971 Indo Pak war and IPKF operations in Sri Lanka in 1989.After retirement from the navy he worked in MACMET Technologies Limited, Bangalore/CAE India developing simulators for the Indian Defence Forces. He is married to Jayanti who is an educationalist. They have a son and daughter and four grandchildren. Pubs is a keen golfer and loves cooking. He also spends time looking after the garden.He is a avid traveler and blogger.
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