A REVIEW OF WAITOMOS BLACK LABYRINTH TOUR

If you’re going to the Waitomo glowworm caves, you’ll have a few choices to make, such as:

• Your budget.
• The company you’ll choose.
• How long you want to spend on your tour.
• Which will all lead to what kind of your you’ll take.

My friend and I were feeling overwhelmed arriving in Waitomo Village. We weren’t sure if the caves were worth visiting but were ready to book a tour of some description.

After some debate we booked the $150 Black Labyrinth tour from Black Water Rafting Co. After plunking down the cash the excitement levels built as our thoughts of being ripped off, getting a dud tour, and missing out on an epic experience many put at the top of their list of things to do in NZ list went away.

Continue reading for my Black Labyrinth Waitomo review where I write about the gritty details, rating, likes, dislikes, trip report, and the questions I had before arriving in Waitomo. Hopefully, it helps you make a decision!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Details | How To Get There | Likes & Dislikes | Trip Report | FAQ

HOW TO GET THERE

The tour starts and finishes at the Black Water Rafting building at:

585 Waitomo Caves Road, Waitomo 3977.

For those who are driving around New Zealand in a campervan (how to buy one) etc., there’s a large carpark at the office. You could also spend the night at the YHA across the road (we did) the night before making it a simple journey in the morning. There’s plenty of accommodation around Waitomo though.

If you’re looking for public transport, you’re out of luck, but Intercity does go to Waitomo (make sure you select Waitomo Township, not Waitomo Caves). Alternatively, it’s an easy area to hitchhike around as everyone is usually going to/from Waitomo.

BLACK LABYRINTH WAITOMO REVIEW

WHAT I LIKED

• The guides, Summer and Alesha, were super helpful, fun, and friendly.
• The wetsuits and other gear were in good condition.
• The practice jump was a great idea.
• The bagel and hot soup afterwards was nice.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

• Needing to get there 30 minutes beforehand.
• Not enough time in the cave.
• Cost of the photos.
• The lack of adrenaline.
• Allowing a kid under 12 on the tour (the parents talked to the company beforehand who made an exception).

BLACK LABYRINTH TOUR TRIP REPORT

We arrived in Waitomo the night before and were pretty keen on a high adrenalin tour. We were just hoping everything was booked out and didn’t know what kind of price we were going to be paying until we got there. But a quick chat with the lady in the i-SITE saw us happily booking the first Black Labyrinth tour the following morning at 8:00 am. We’d be jumping over waterfalls through the cave on a tube! Epic.

We were told to be there 30 minutes early, and honestly, that’s not needed. We ended up arriving about 15 minutes early and after a couple of minutes had filled out our declaration forms (the usual signing our lives away). We were then told to wait until 8 am when our guides were ready…in the meantime we could buy a coffee at the cafe which charges an arm and a leg while we wait.

Making us arrive so early felt like a trap to get us buying overpriced drinks…we both thought this was time spent putting our wetsuits etc. on.

At 8 am on the dot we meet our tour guide, Alesha and Summer, for the day. We’d be exploring Ruakuri Cave (in Maori this means the den of dogs), this is where all the Black Labyrinth tours go.

I’ll get this out of the way now, Alesha and Summer were amazing, super helpful, caring, knew what they were doing. And I’m always a fun of the odd joke/prank here and there…I may have fallen for one joke big-time…no one’s safety was ever at risk).

Anyway, it was time to get our costumes ready for the day. They helped us get good fitting gear including:

• Wetsuit bottoms (like overalls)
• Wetsuit jacket
• Helmet
• Socks
• Waterproof footwear

After putting our stuff in the lockers, we were then given a rundown on what to expect over the next couple of hours.

Finally, it was time to head to the caves! A driver took us close to the cave entrance where our first stop was at the river (not in a cave). Here we chose our tube for the day and made our practice jump. The practice jump was to let us understand what it’d be like when we needed to jump off the two small waterfalls in the cave, as well as getting our wetsuits wet so they’d start working. The jumping is easy enough as the guides will push you off to make sure you don’t hit your head and stuff…woah it was colder than I expected though, even in the heat of summer. You’ll quickly adjust to the cold as the wetsuit starts working.

This took maybe 10 minutes before we piled back in the van for the short drive to the cave entrance.

Our tour was now beginning, and after a nice little prank by our guide (Alesha made me believe that we’d have to squeeze through the tightest of holes), we made our way down into the cave.

Note: I might have the sequence of waterfall jumps etc. wrong, my memory is hazy even though I wrote notes on the same day!)

After heading into the cave one by one, we got a quick group photo (Summer had a camera and took ~50 photos of us as a group and individuals throughout the trip)….no you can’t take your own GoPro etc.

We were then wading through the waters through some tight gaps before we approached the first waterfall. On our practice jump, we learned the technique of putting the tube on our bum and jumping out backward (Alesha would push us) where we’d then land on our tube. The first jump was the smaller of the two and I’m still amazed we all managed to land upright in our tubes! The jumps aren’t nearly as scary as I’d expected….maybe it’s the darkness which helps.

At times throughout the tour we were told to turn off our lights so we can get the full glowworm experience.

On one occasion we sat in the dark, with blue spots above us and we were given the lowdown on what glowworms actually are! It’s really interesting, and this article explains glowworms better than I ever will. While most animals in the kingdom have a purpose, glowworms don’t really have one, other than entertaining tourists. Baffles me.

The second waterfall was the larger jump of the two, and Summer made sure we didn’t make the mistake of stepping into the hole next to the jumping point when she fully submerged herself which definitely got our attention. Stay left! This waterfall was once again easily navigated by all as we walked to the point where we all connected ourselves in a tube train (we practiced this on land too), turned off our headlights and floated down the river while admiring the glowworms above in peace. It’s quite the magical spectacle!

The final section before exiting the cave involved us turning off our lights again, with our guides giving us the challenge of getting out of the cave on our own. It’s a small gimmick, but enjoyable and did add to the experience rather than just floating in a train as we had previously.

In between the waterfalls and floating there’s some walking through the cave. This wasn’t hard, you’ve got a headlamp on and the water level is controlled by Black Water Rafting (well until nature tells them otherwise).

After what I’m guessing was about two hours and fifteen minutes we exited the cave. it’s a short walk back to where we made the initial practice jump where a van collected us a couple of minutes later.

Upon returning to the Black Water Rafting building we got changed (they have hot showers) and washed our gear (the guides will give them a proper was too) before warming up with hot soup and bagels (nom). As we’re eating, the photos from the day are rotating on the TV screens above. The photos are funny and good enough, and I asked a couple of the others if they wanted to split the cost of the photos which are $35. They happily did. Even at $15 I felt like it was a nuisance having to pay for them?

That was that, we all departed and it was time for us to drive to Raglan for the night.

FAQ & TIPS

What do I wear? Your togs (that’s Kiwi slang for swimwear) and a towel is what you need for the Black Labyrinth tour. If you haven’t got a rash vest but want to wear a tee-shirt, make sure it’s not cotton as this will take heat away from your body.

Is the water in the caves cold? Yes. Despite being the middle of summer, the water was cold. What I didn’t know about wetsuits is they need to be wet to work properly! You might get cold hands during the tour but you’ll be fine, if you’re really struggling, the guides can help you out.

How do I know which tour to book? This was our dilemma before arriving at the caves. There are so many companies and so many caves. What’s the best one and why? All the price points are so different! Will we be ripped off?

In terms of tour companies, Black Water Rafting Co. is the most famous tour company in Waitomo. They offer two popular tours, the Black Labyrinth Tour (the one I did), and a more expensive tour called the Black Abyss which features abseiling at a higher price point. There are lots of caves throughout the region, and the different tour companies will take you to the different cave . You can also take a walking tour, a tour in a raft, and a bunch more…it’s hard to explain, but if you’re not comfortable making a decision online, you can visit the i-SITE, they were helpful. It was nice having all the tour brochures in front of me at once.

And there are caves around you can explore for free!

Are discounted tours available? There are lots of discounted glowworm tours available on Bookme.co.nz. There are also caves in the area you can explore (at your own risk of course).

Is it safe? The guides on the Black Labyrinth tour knew what they were doing and made sure we didn’t make any silly mistakes along the way. There’s always a risk to anything you do of course…

Am I guaranteed to see glowworms? Nothing in nature is definite, but it’d be a newsworthy headline if you didn’t on the Black Labyrinth tour. You’ll see them and they were the most ‘glowing’ glowworms I’ve ever seen.

Do I need to book in advance? We turned up at about 5 pm and was able to get a tour first thing in the morning the following day. This was just after the New Year, a busy time of year. So while you should be okay booking at the last minute, you might get unlucky but as long as you’re a little flexible with your tour time, you’ll be right.

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My expectations of the Waitomo Caves were massive! And that might have led to my disappointment of the tour. Overall, the guides were great, but it was just the tour itself was underwhelming in terms of adrenaline and the niggly things like getting their early and paying for photos which isn’t fun.

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