Waitomo and the Caves

Friday was a more leisurely day which was just as well because the rain was back again! After lunch in the hostel kitchen we drove 2 hours east to the tiny village of Waitomo for some caving adventures. Waitomo is the caving capital of New Zealand and has hundreds of kilometres of cave networks within the limestone rock that surrounds the tiny village. We had originally planned to head to Waitomo before visiting Rotorua but had to change our plans because the cave systems had been flooded by heavy rain. Although water levels were still very high we were able to book onto a 'Gruesome Twosome' full-day 'wet' caving adventure for Saturday, which combined two beautifully named trips, 'Haggas Honking Holes' and 'The Lost World Epic'! We were even more wrapped when they accepted our 'buy one get one free voucher' which saved us 180 pounds!!

On Saturday morning it was still pouring with rain but it didn't matter considering we would be crawling around inside a cave! We visited the small caves museum and then headed to the Waitomo Adventure office to check in for our trip. Our trips were the only trips operating for the day... all the cave systems used by other companies had been completely flooded out overnight so we were very lucky. We were taken a short drive into the hills and onto a farm where the cave entrance was located. The Waitomo caves are owned by whichever farmer should happen to own the land they sit beneath and the adventure companies have a lease to use the caves for their activities. Apparently this pays the farmers very well indeed. We had a short briefing, changed into some seriously thick wetsuits, donned some welly boots, helmets and then set off to the cave entrance which was hidden down in some undergrowth! We clambered down into a dark and small entrance into the cave which had water gushing into it, and before we knew it we were tied on to a rope and were abseiling down a 20m waterfall inside the cave! We both got down absolutely soaked but with big grins on our faces. For the next 3 hours we clambered, climbed and crawled our way through the Haggas Cave system, which had water raging through it due to all the heavy rainfall. It was so loud that we could hardly hear our guides speak. We were due to go down a further 2 waterfall abseils, but at the second abseil we had to abort to an alternative route. Ash and two other guys had gone with the guide down the second abseil and at the bottom they were up to their chests in deep water and unable to reach the next passage as it was flooded. They all had a strenuous climb back up through the raging waterfall and looked a little worse for wear by the time they reached safety! Our alternative route still proved to be very adventurous as we stomped and crawled through passages with knee deep water gushing through them! We stopped towards the bottom of the cave system, turned off our headtorches and looked up at what resembled the night sky... there were hundreds of glow-worms illuminating the cave walls with their bio-luminescence. It was an amazing sight and something Waitomo is famous for. After several hours, we climbed our way up several waterfalls and a high ladder to exit the cave, showered and returned to Waitomo for a very quick lunch of sandwiches made in the boot of our car and a bag of hot chips.

After our quick lunch we were back in the minibus but this time heading in the opposite direction for our afternoon caving trip, the 'Lost World Epic'. After kitting up in overalls we walked to an enormous and deep cave entrance which is called 'The Lost World' and looks like scenery from a Jurassic Park film. The entrance was over 100m deep with sheer cliffs down the sides, and yep, we were abseiling down into it! From a tiny steel balcony overhanging the drop below we harnessed up and dropped off the side, swinging freely on a rope with the 100m drop below us. Our abseil to the bottom of the cave took about 10 minutes and it was an amazing experience and something neither of us have done on such scale before! We really felt like intrepid explorers lowering ourselves into the dark and misty depths. At the bottom we unclipped ourselves from the ropes and clambered into a huge cave with a dangerously fast river flowing through it. One slip into the water and you would end up being taken 5km through the cave with a 30 minute cave dive required at the other end to reach the exit alive! We spent a good hour in the cave but were unable to go too far because the water levels in the cave were rising rapidly against the ladder we would need to exit the cave. As such we made an early exit and climbed up the 30m ladder (with a nice display of glow-worms around us!) and upwards through the cave for another 30 minutes before reaching the exit. The weather and the raging high waters made for exhilarating caving..... the best way to experience the caves apparently. In the evening we collapsed in our hostel which unfortunately was not a very nice one and completely overrun with noisy teenagers!

On Sunday morning (after about 3 hours sleep due to the noise!!) we left Waitomo and drove 8 hours south to Wellington, the country's capital.