I just had the best meal yet while here in New Zealand…but first, lets talk about glowworms!
The weather yesterday was suboptimal for any sort of beach or water activity (I’m still patiently waiting to use the Airbnb pool & hopeful today might be my lucky day), so during the morning I did some much needed laundry, did a workout and honestly, relaxed while it intermittently rained outside. Any time the sun came out I sat on the porch and read. Absolutely lovely.
Matt’s workday ended at 2pm and we hopped in the car for a quick 30 minute drive to head to the Kawiti Glowworm caves. This is a family owned business that has been in place for generations and requires a booking for a guided tour. I have never seen glowworms before and wondered if the few photos I had seen online would live up to how cool they seemed.
Being the photographing-type, we brought our camera and tripod thinking we could take some long exposure photos but quickly found out no photos or videoing is allowed. I was honestly a little bummed out, mostly because I just didn’t want to ever forget what they looked like. However, we learned from our guide that the glowworms are extremely sensitive to light, especially the blue light emitted from phone screens. After seeing how cool these little critters are, I was 1) no longer afraid of forgetting them; they are seriously awesome and 2) more than happy to do anything to keep them alive and thriving for other people to enjoy.
With special lanterns, our group of 8 explorers were led into the limestone cave by our guide, Bruce, who we later learned was only 16 years old?! And he said he’d been a guide for 3 years?! We were shocked. Anyways, back to the caves.
We made our way into the cave via a skinny wooden boardwalk that had railings on each side as it weaved through the various cavern walls, stalagmites, and stalactites. A helpful tip Bruce taught us was stalagmites grow from the floor reaching up- as in one day they “mite” reach the ceiling and stalactites “cling tite-ly to the ceiling”. When the two meet, it forms a column! We also learned that limestone is very sensitive to contaminants, especially touch, and discolors easily. Rocks are cool, man!
Once we left the light of the outside world, our eyes began adjusting to the dark and lo and behold the ceiling started to glow with hundreds of tiny glue and green lights! The only thing I can compare it to is tiny fiber-optic lights plugged into the ceiling – but this was happening all because of a bioluminescent chemical reaction happening in the worms tail! Nature is so neat.
We stopped at a total of ~5 locations within the cave system, going deeper and deeper in while also climbing and descending various stair cases (and ducking to avoid hitting stalactites too). Each one was different as the cave walls and ceiling height were ever changing.
One stop, nicknamed the Jewel Cavern, the ceiling hung much lower so you could really see the glowworms up close. They form a rod shape and attach each end to the ceiling. Then the worms hang down these little “fishing lines” from their bodies covered with their paralyzing saliva, dangling and waiting to attract their prey with their glowing butts. Once caught, they slurp up their prey and munch away. Up close the tiny “fishing lines” looked like fragments of vertical spider web threads dangling down and swaying to the tiniest change in the air. The tube portion of the worm can grow about as long as a match stick. We also learned they have 4 life stages: Egg, Glowworm, cocoon, and then flying critter where they only live a couple days to mate and lay eggs before dying.
All that to say, this experience was truly incredible and I clearly nerded out HARD over these little glowy guys and gals.
*Actually they are non-binary until they hit the flying-bug stage of life where they come out of the cocoons either male or female*
After the caves we all took a bush walk through cool rocks as we made our way back to the parking lot.
I would love for words to do justice explaining how fun this was, but I’m not sure it’s possible. To feast your eyeballs after so much text, here’s an Adobe stock image I found to try and show a little bit what it looks like (I promise its cooler in person).
If you made it this far, thanks for indulging my new found hyper-fixation. 😇
Now about that meal…
For dinner Matt grabbed us a reservation at Plough and Feather, a recommendation from our lovely Airbnb host. Upon arriving, I immediately felt like (yet again) I had stumbled upon some kind of storybook setting. Nestled next to an inlet with scattered sailboats that flows into a river and tucked into trees at the base of a rolling green hill sat the homey restaurant.
In the same vicinity stood an old stone building (The Stone Store), an old white house with a beautiful garden (Mission house) and across the river (accessed via a pedestrian bridge) is a replica of an old Māori fishing village (Te Ahurea). Yet again, a place we need to go back and explore as everything was closed by this time.
With the scene set, we dove into what is now our favorite meal so far.
Starting with a beetroot tarte that had whipped goat cheese, arugula and crispy morsels (I can’t remember what they were but they added great crunch) – this was it for me. One bite in and I was lost in pure bliss! We also started with some broccolini, as any time a place has broccolini you can be sure Matt is going to order it. It was also incredibly delicious, especially with the candied walnuts 😋.
Can’t forget about the cocktails! A kiwi lime and mint mojito that had us making eyes at each other like “are you also tasting the best mojito you’ve ever had, because I am?!” I never want a mojito that doesn’t have fresh local kiwi ever again.
For the mains I got a riccia pasta with beef ragu and parmesan while Matt ordered the angus aged eye fillet with mushrooms and this insane potato galette. Phone did not eat first with Matt’s dish, and that is fair because, potatoes- duh.
We made room for dessert after moving onto a Northlands Sauvignon blanc as I saw this dish come out and NEEDED to try it: Kaffir lime & lemongrass panna cotta served with poached plums. Every bit light and delicious.
And with that we almost had to be rolled out of the restaurant and dove right into bed upon getting back to our Airbnb! A slower paced day but all the same, full of delights, new experiences and incredible eats. I’m figuring out just how much of a foodie-lovers country New Zealand is- a delightful revelation!
Lastly, for geographically context! Plough and Feather is located in Kerikeri. I’ll also link below the Kawiti Glowworm cave website if you ever find yourself in the Bay of Islands area, it is a must see.
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