Waipu Caves & Shelly Beach

We decided as a family that for birthdays and Christmas, instead of accumulating more stuff, we would spend the money on making memories. Gavin celebrated his birthday this last weekend and we made it all about him! He wanted donuts for breakfast so we started our day off on a sugar rush...

Ever since we decided to move to New Zealand, we have wanted to explore caves and find glowworms. We read our trusty book and it pointed us to a cave an hour and a half north of us. It advised us to wear swimsuits, water shoes, and head lamps so we did just that. We were expecting to come out muddy and wet and we sure did! We were instructed to enter the Waipu Cave, find the large stalagmite on the left, and sit for 10 minutes for our eyes to adjust to the darkness. The kids were troopers and we sat and waited. Slowly, we could see a couple of small glow worms above us! We were so excited to see more! There was a small stream running through the bottom of the cave so we trudged through it to find more. We walked a little farther into the cave and saw tons more glow worms above us. It was like a starry night! We got to other parts where the glowworms were lower and we could examine what they really looked like. They are little inch worms with a small glowing light at their very tip. Such a small little creature for such a wondrous site. 

The book had said that the cave had a loop and if we were brave we would be able to make it in and out of the cave that way. We were determined to do just that. We got to some points in the cave where the water came up to our knees and we had to duck and crouch under some really low parts of the cave to make it to other sections. We came to an area where the cold water came up to Cody's and my waists and the older boys' chests. They were so brave and tough. It was hard to determine where to step and place your feet since the water was so deep and dark and the ground was uneven with rocks, branches, and debris. I was holding Trevor and Cody was holding Reese as we waded through slowly and unsurely. But it was so so cool! We all loved exploring and being on this adventure together. We got to a certain part where we just didn't know where to go. Cody and Gavin went ahead to search and found a part where they were scooting on their tummies through crevices in the rocks. They decided to probably turn back around instead of risk getting stuck or lost. So, we just retraced our steps. We were all freezing, our feet were numb from the chilly water, and we had enjoyed our time so we were ready to be done. As we were nearing the entrance of the cave, we made it back to a large cavern and looked up. Since our eyes had been well adjusted to the darkness at this point, we could see a ton more glowworms above us! It was just like looking up on a clear dark night and seeing millions of stars in the night sky. It was awesome! It was a great end to our cave adventure. 

Unfortunately, we left the GoPro usb card at home and we didn't want to risk bringing our iPhones into the wet cave so we didn't get any pictures inside. But, we will definitely be back and we are determined to find that loop!

We left the cave, got showered off, and ate lunch. I packed some comfort food for Gavin's special day. He requested peanut butter & jelly, grapes, peppers and I added in some New Zealand type Cheetos and cookies (biscuits). Food plays a big part in birthdays in our family =)

While we were in the area, Cody had been told by a coworker to check out Shelly Beach. So we drove over to Waipu Beach and found the obscure trail to Shelly Beach. It was so cool! The shore was completely covered in shells! Piles and piles of shells. We all dug through the layers to find some cool treasures. Ethan's treasure was a washed up dead blow fish…he was pretty proud of his discovery! We all left with pocketfuls of shells to add to our collection.

Gavin had requested Burger King for dinner. So, we had to make the birthday boy happy and eat American food in a foreign country…

It was a perfect day and the birthday boy was pretty happy!