A bid to get more tourists from the land down under...to visit down under

Waitomo's Glowworm Caves are offering "bring an Aussie mate for free" -- to attract trans-Tasman visitors to Waikato.

Discover Waitomo general manager, Tim Loxton, says it's nearly a month since the bubble opened -- but they haven't seen a significant lift from Australian visitors.

He says as expected friends and family have come first - and lots of people are looking -- but there aren't a lot of leisure bookings yet.