Left: Judy pauses before going into the second cave on our trip; this cave did not require helmet lighting. Below: our guide offered coffee, tea and cookies as he answered questions about caving, New Zealand, and much more. He seemed to enjoy his job a lot—and was a good guide.
The second cave, though it had a few Glow Worms, was really shown to us for the stalactites and stalagmites that have been formed over the years.
Taking a natural photo, with only the light from underground lighting, nice limestone formations can be seen.
The guide’s flashlight illuminates a nice stalactite.
Small pockets were found, the deeper we got into the cave.
In the second cave, the guide showed us another skeleton, this time of a goat who, again, wandered into the cave, got lost, and died.
Left: A nice narrow corridor in the cave. Below: A bubbly limestone stalactite hangs from the roof of the cave.
Nicely formed limestone formations—the brown ones are newer and still forming.
Below these limestone hangings a pool of water has formed—not a river, but not stagnant, either.