Last Thursday saw the Year 12 Geography class travel to Waitomo. The students visited the Ruakuri Cave. Here they learnt about the formation of rock structures and navigated the twisting passages of the caves. The students also had their first glimpse of glowworms here, but a closer encounter was soon to come with their visit to the Waitomo Cave.
The highlight of the Waitomo Cave was the boat ride down an underground river where glowworms were the only light source. It was a beautiful sight and was thoroughly enjoyed by all the students.
On the second day of the trip the students explored the Waitomo Discovery Centre and museum to get more resources for their assessment. They also continued with their surveys of the tourists in the area.
They spent the day at Waitomo at the information and education centre, as well as the museum. While at the education centre the students received a talk from one of the educators about the importance of the caves for the area of Waitomo, as well as the benefits of show caves vs adventure caves for Waitomo’s economy. It was overall very rewarding and informative and will certainly be useful for the internal the students will be completing about tourism in Waitomo.
Their trip finished with a quick return visit to the information centre and museum where the students learnt more about cave structures and were able to try out a cave crawl. Finally, the long drive back to school was started and all waved farewell to Waitomo.
Danica Loulie-Wijtenburg
