Experience the best of Waitomo

Waitomo sits in rolling sheep country in the northern King Country of the North Island, about an hour's drive south of Hamilton. The name comes from Māori words for water and hole, and the limestone hills under the farmland are riddled with caves. In the best known of them, the Glowworm Cave, boats glide beneath a ceiling dotted with the blue-green lights of a glow-worm found only in New Zealand.

Other caves nearby include Ruakuri and Aranui, and a bush walk in the Ruakuri reserve passes limestone outcrops and sinkholes. Farther towards the west coast, the Mangapohue Natural Bridge is a limestone arch over a stream, and Marokopa Falls drops in a wide curtain into a forest pool. Hamilton and Rotorua are both within a couple of hours.

Te Kuiti, the nearest town, bills itself as the shearing capital of the world and has a statue of a shearer to prove it. Menus here lean on lamb and beef from the surrounding farms, and the village is little more than a few cafés and lodges around the cave entrances. The caves stay at much the same temperature all year.