Tuesday, Feb. 28 (week / day ) Waitomo, NZ

Marmite vs. Vegemite

You may have heard of vegemite, the Australian food spread that brings to mind the 1981 Men At Work song "Down Under." Well, the New Zealand version is Marmite, also a thick black food spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. Definitely an acquired taste, but you should try it!

Glow Worm Caves

We left Kyra at the farm house to recover since she was quite warn out. Maybe the jet-lag finally caught up with her. We spent the afternoon at the Waitomo Caves where the ceilings are covered with worms that emit a fluorescent green-yellow glow to attract bugs. These worms lower a thread of slime that catches the bugs & the worms then slurp up like spaghetti. They don't allow cameras so no pics inside the cave, but I have added a couple from the internet to get an idea. They look a lot like constellations in the distant sky. The guide said to be quiet because the glow worms don't like noise, but I don't believe it. I don't think they hear anything. It would just be too loud with everyone in the cave trying to talk over each other. Before we got to the glow worm part of the cave we stopped in "the cathedral" or largest room in the cave & the guide asked if someone would sing... no noise. Then she turned out the lights for anonymity... I thought about breaking out, "Jose can you see..." but a French lady holding her baby beat me to it with a beautiful Italian lullaby which might be more memorable than the glow worms! After the caves, we stopped in the nearby town of Otorohanga where the girls got out to do some window shopping.

glow worm web pic #1



glow worm web pic #2

coming out of the cave

just after getting off the boat at Waitomo Caves

the cute town of Otorohanga

A Walk to the Cows

Kaye took Avery & Cannon on a walk to see the cows in the paddock (pasture) & how much they eat. Their diet is carefully calculated with a variety of vegetables, today: radishes. Later in the day, Kaye took us all on a trek down to the milking shed but we missed all the cows. She still walked us through & showed us how things are done. Back at the farm we had yummy feijoa smoothies.

off to see the cows

Kaye explaining the cows' diet

 

Cannon with a cow-sized raddish

the trek to the milking shed

Kaye showing the suction device for milking

the feijoa fruit

inside a feijoa

Yum, feijoa smoothies!