Spelunking, glowwarms and chocolate cake

It was the most breathtaking sight I've seen thus far in New Zealand. Sitting in complete darkness with only the sound of the boat gently gliding across the water, I was in awe. The blue light illuminated just about every inch of the cave ceiling and walls. Our guide had earlier described the sight as extraterrestrial. Turned out he was right. Too bad we couldn't take pictures.
From the moment we landed in New Zealand this was Jen's biggest request and we decided to go on her birthday.
They are advertised as glowworms, but in fact they're actually larva looking for lunch. The glowworm life cycle starts off as an egg, then a young larva that takes over nine months to grow to the size of a matchstick. The third stage is the pupa, kind like the cocoon stage for a butterfly. The last stage is the adult stage which lasts just a few days for reproductive purposes. (Feel smarter?) 
We visited the Aranui Cave (my favorite), the Ruakuri Cave (Jen's favorite) and the Waitomo Glowworm Cave on Saturday. Each cave has a different story of orgin and are all located in the town of Waitomo, about 2 1/2 hours from Waihi.
Aside from the glowworms, the caves are filled with huge stalactites and stalagmites made of limestone. They say it can take 100 years to form one cubic centimeter of stalactite. One of the formations we saw was around during the time of Christ. (Pretty old).
After a day of spelunking and a good meal at an Asian restaurant in Hamilton, Jen and I ended the day with chocolate cake and ice cream.

Here are a few photos: