WAITOMO CAVES
On Wednesday morning, Scott, Nikki, and Claire all squished into Bertie and headed off to the Waitomo region. We booked the Lost World 7 hour Epic caving adventure with Waitomo Adventures. In our booking confirmation email, they warned us that if there has been too much rain, this trip would not be able to run, but they have many other trips that we would still be able to do in exchange.
We arrived just before 10am after only an hour drive...in the pouring rain. Not surprisingly, our initial trip was rained out, but they had upgraded us to another trip. Basically, they took 2 of their 4 hour trips and sent us on one in the morning, and another in the afternoon.
Nine of us and two guides hopped into a van and drove out to the first cave. It is a really neat geographical area in NZ because above ground it just looks like the typical rolling hills farmland. But underneath the hills and farmland are a whole bunch of different caves. They referred to this area as the swiss cheese of NZ. SO many holes.
HAGGAS HONKING HOLES (10am-2pm)
We drove up through a farmers field until we came to a big shed. We changed into wet suits and strapped on our helmets and after a quick safety briefing and lesson on how to abseil, we walked off into the middle of the field where there was a small little opening down into the cave. We climbed down a little ladder and entered the cave.We then proceeded to make our way through the network of caves that involved 4 abseils (abseil is just another word for rappelling), crawling, squeezing, and exploring the incredible narrow, wet cave. The largest abseil of this trip was 20m but we eventually found ourselves 70m below ground.
Scott being a goof as he abseils down a waterfall
These limestone caves were created over 30 million years ago, when the area was beneath the sea. Volcanic activity caused the layers of limestone to buckle and bend and rise up out of the water. They maintained channels of water flow throughout it, and over millions of years large caverns were eventually formed. The continuous exposure to rainwater flowing into the caves reacts with the limestone creating beautiful calcium carbonate formations that hang from the ceiling and walls. These take hundreds of years to form, as they only grow 1 cubic centimeter per 100 years. 
Nikki just LOVING it!
At one point, the guides gathered the group and gave us instructions for the next abseil. We were to abseil down the waterfall, and as soon as you get to the bottom, step left to undo the rope (so you don't continue getting showered by the waterfall), then, go right. Sounds easy enough. So, one at a time we do it. Every single one of us had the same experience. You get down, finding yourself alone in a space no bigger than a closet. You step left and unbuckle as instructed. Then look right...nothing. Then look left...nothing. Then look all around...nothing. Uhmmm... where are we supposed to go? Remembering that they said go right (or the guide up top yelling down at you to go right) and knowing that obviously the people who went before you went somewhere... you had to search a little harder. You got down on your hands and knees and crawled through the waterfall and to your amazement there was a small little hole. It was so small that it was still not super obvious that was the way to go until you poked your head in it a bit and saw the glow of the lights from the people ahead of you.
Scott squeezing through an itsy bitsy worm hole and Claire rock climbing.
Then the guide has everyone sit around in this one particular part of the cave and tells us to turn our headlamps off. The ceiling of the cave lit up with glowworms. We learned a bunch of stuff about them... but I don't want to get into it all, so if you want to learn about them, check out the Planet Earth episode. They were quite spectacular to see.
We worked our way through the cave in about 2 and a half hours, stopping for a chocolate bar and juice half way through for a little sugar boost. We rock climbed our way back out of the cave and ended back up in the farmers field. We went back to the shed for a warm shower, and then back to the main office in Waitomo for some lunch before heading out for the second trip.
LOST WORLD TOUR (4 Hour) 3pm-7:30pm
For this trip there were only 5 of us (Scott, Nikki, Claire, a guy from LA, and our guide Sarah). We jumped back into the van and drove out to another farmers field where they had another equipment shed. We got all geared up in our blue jumpsuits and helmets and made our way to the cave.
This cave was very different from the last cave. The entrance to the cave was a long narrow opening in the farmers field that opened up into a massive cavern as you descend down into it. We came to a platform at the entrance to the cave and looked down (Big mistake).
Looking down into the cave. AMAZING!
We all get hooked up and after several safety checks, and we get ourselves over the edge so that we are all hanging in our harnesses 100m above the bottom of the cave.
Stepping over that edge and letting yourself hang was the only scary part of it. Once we were comfortably hanging, it was all fun and games from there.
Once Sarah (the guide) was all hooked up and ready to go, the 5 of us abseiled down the 100m together. We were all roped to Sarah, meaning we all had to go at the same pace as her and the slowest person in the group. It took about 15 minutes to reach the bottom. The trick the boys learned was to wait for Sarah to pass them, then drop fast as far as they could go. And then near the bottom, you could get a real good bounce on. SO much fun!
(Above) Looking back up at where we just came from.
(Right) Looking back at the opening of the cave and the abseil from deeper inside the cave.
There was one scary moment when we heard a big thump over on the other side of the cave, only to look and see that a big tree stump had fallen away into the cave bringing a whole bunch of debris with it. Luckily we weren't standing there at that moment. EEEKKK!
To keep our minds off the falling tree, we had some fun taking some cool pictures.
The Explorer
The Thinker The Warrior
A domestic dispute Nikki trying not to look stupid.
Checking out more Glowworms!
We worked our way deeper into the cave, out of the little bit of light that was coming in through the mouth of the cave, and into the dark. We climbed up a ways until we came to the caves exit.
Nikki and Claire rock climbing.
We rock climbed as far up the cave as is possible. But remember we came down 100m, meaning we have to get up 100m to get out. The rock climb part of the exit was super fun and exciting and got us about 70m up.
Then we come to a great big sketchy 30m metal ladder. UGH! Nikki was not so thrilled when she first learned that this is how we'd be getting out of the cave. She had learned earlier in the day that she does not particularly like ladders and even on a way shorter one, her legs would start shaking. This picture on the right is the ladder, but this was not exactly what it looked like for us. It was after 7pm and was getting dark outside, so there was no light coming in from above. The only light was what was coming from our very dim headlamps. It was wet and muddy with rain drops coming from above.
"PUSH OUT THE JIVE. BRING IN THE LOVE" was the pre-climb pep talk.
One at a time, we made our way up the ladder. For Nikki, the beginning was good, then the legs started getting a little shaky, but she got into a rhythm and made it to the top. Because it was so muddy, every few rungs you'd have to stop, hook yourself on with your elbow and wipe your hands off. Claire had a similar experience as Nikki, but Scott just motored his way up with no problems.
That was definitely the scariest part of the entire day (for Nikki and Claire at least... Scott loved it) but it was quite the accomplishment to have done it.
That was definitely the scariest part of the entire day (for Nikki and Claire at least... Scott loved it) but it was quite the accomplishment to have done it.
Still smiling after the 30m ladder climb!
We arrived back at the office at about 7:30pm and the three of us found somewhere for dinner and then drove home to Hamilton. The whole day was amazing and absolutely worth every penny. It is a must-do for anyone who comes here.
Looks like close quarters but fun. Glad to hear that you are safe and well.
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