Waitomo Caves are now accessible!
Well here’s something I didn’t think was possible, along with the All Blacks winning the World Cup, except this one actually came to fruition – the Waitomo Caves now have a wheelchair accessible route through the Ruakuri cave!
After an 18-year absence, the Ruakuri cave, one of several within the Waitomo caves area, reopened recently with a dramatic spiral entrance and 1.6km of guided walkway through the cave, where you get to experience everything from vast echoing caverns, deep crevices, along with everyone’s favourite, the ever-elusive glow-worm! The Waitomo glow-worm is actually unique to New Zealand, and can be seen in either the accessible walk through the Ruakiri cave, or the not-so-accessible boat trip and other cave climbs through the remarkable natural phenomenon.
Each tour lasts around 2 hours, and they run at several intervals throughout the day. The Waitomo caves themselves are located a 1 hour drive from Hamilton and a 3-hour drive from Auckland, and with a newly refurbished cave just opened, not to mention (yes, I’ll mention it again) the wheelchair accessible tour, it’s well worth the trip! To find out more, check pricing details, or get driving directions, check out the official site.
If you’ve already been and checked it out, let us know what you thought below!
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What a good idea. I was up there a few years ago and there wasn't much around I could access so I went away. Their loss not mine.
Fantastic. Wish I could get there to see it.
Ava.
Hi; The oldie here; Dave [my hubby] and I have just come home from a visit to Ruakuri Cave; Waitomo. Brilliant. A must see!! Couple of things. Wheelchairs should not be over 68 cms wide [there is some narrow places to go through]; but if chair is – they have a chair at the cave for use if need be. Dave did everything himself as in power chair; but even in his younger days when rotor cuffs in shoulders were strong; being as he is a quad. he could never have managed his manual chair on some parts where its steep. Good strong shoulders/arms maybe able to do it; but I reckon anyone in manual chair probably would need some assistance. It cost $49 each for the 2 hour guided tour of the cave; but we reckon it was worth every $$$. Marvellous day.
Fantastic to hear Jan, thanks so much for letting us know! Particularly good to know about the width requirements, will definitely be measuring my chair before I make the trip
Hi, I've been through the caves in my chair. A fantastic experience… recommend it!! It's true there are two spots where I had to squeeze through a bit. I'm in a 17" manual
[...] be slightly outdated (in particular, his concerns with the inaccessibility of the Waitomo Caves, which is no longer the case). Here’s an excerpt from his story: A good number of tourist attractions were very well set [...]