I thought glo worms were the gummy candies sold at gas stations.

It has been a busy couple of days. My strategy has changed a bit on how to allocate my time here. As my dad says, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Ok, that's kind of morbid. I never really though of what that saying was actually inferring. Moving along. I decided, after seeking the counsel of someone who has traveled the whole of New Zealand, to only spend a few days in the Northland (where I was planning on spending a few weeks). So I came on up last night to begin a tour. I spent the night last night in Whengere (the "wh" makes an "f" sound, so it's pronounced "Fangaray").

On the way there, I took a back road excursion to see a waterfall. This was a bit precarious, as New Zealand roads are already windy and hilly (comes with the topography), the dirt road that I was on was very interesting; but I got there in one piece, and it was so worth it. Absolutely beautiful.

I stayed the night in Whengere, and went to the Whengere falls this morning. Another waterfall, this one was huge, and once again beautiful. I took a hike down the river and into the forest. I got my first look at Kauri trees there. These are the redwoods of New Zealand, and they are indeed huge. On my return south, I plan on visiting a place that the manager of the hostel I am staying at told me about. He said there are trees in this particular forest that are 8,000 years old.

After I finished at Whengere falls, I had lunch and headed further north. On the road I stopped at the Waro Limestone deposit. I couldn't find much info on it, but it apparently at one time was a limestone hill or mountain that has slowly eroded away due to rainwater, as limestone tends to do. The formations were bizarre, and many looked as if they had been formed by hand (but they hadn't, I did find enough information to substantiate that). It looked like something straight out of Lord of the Rings.

Further down the road I stopped at a glo worm cave. That was pretty awesome. It was a long limestone cave, with a stream running through it, there was a platform to walk built over the stream because there were 6 ft. carnivorous eels in the stream, I saw one (and was very glad I had a platform to walk on). Once your eyes get accustomed to the dark, and you look up, in parts of the cave it looks almost like stars (well green stars) on a clear night. There were that many. It was pretty amazing, especially since I was half expecting a hole some guy had dug in his sheep pasture and hung Christmas lights in to make a buck off some naive tourists.

I intended to stay the night at Bay of Islands, which is gorgeous, but turned out to be very touristy. So I continued on to find a place to stay. I ended up stopping on Karikari Peninsula, and I am currently at a hostel that is empty except for me, that is nice, it's quiet. It has just been renovated and it is super nice, just not full because the season is just beginning to get into the swing. If you ever happen to be traveling on the Kirakira peninsula, stay in "the Rusty Anchor Backpacker's Hostel". I highly recommend it.

When I got here, the manager told me of a bay and a beach just ten minutes up the road at the end of the peninsula. He said he has been around the world and these were the most beautiful he had ever seen. I headed his advice and went to have a look. He was not lying. They each were the most beautiful I have ever seen, and to see them within 10 minutes of each other is amazing. It's pretty astounding that they are not completely inundated with tourists. But the roads to them are not good, and they are far enough off the track that no one bothers I suppose. If I had to spend the rest of my time here at either the Matai bay, or Karikari beach' I think I would be fine with that. Absolutely breathtaking.

Tomorrow I go to Cape Reinga at the very northern end of the North Island where the Tasmin gulf and Pacific Ocean meet. The only thing I forgot to bring with me is the battery charger for my camera, it died on the way here (I was taking pictures of everything!). So I bought a couple of disposable cameras, certainly not ideal, but hopefully the pictures will turn out.

I leave you with the words of a New Zealand news caster who was reading a viewer letter this morning on the news in Whengere. "My husband told me that women are made to have children because they are closer to the ground... He is now my ex-husband." I assure you a great deal of ravenous laughter ensued upon my hearing this statement.