Caving in Waitomo

Oh, so much can happen in a week in NZ! First, I should explain that when backpackers first arrive in NZ, we see advertisements all over the hostels for three main bus travel companies: The Kiwi Experience Bus, Magic Bus & Stray Bus. These buses take you all over NZ--you pick the company you want to travel with and then pick a specific route depending on your price range & how many places you want to go. Before Sontsa (Sonja) & I met in Auckland over 2 months ago, she had already paid for a route with the Kiwi Experience bus because they had a really great deal going on at the time. However, since we wanted to travel together and neither Brigita nor I had booked on the Kiwi bus, Sontsa has been traveling by Intercity Bus & Naked Bus like us. Rotorua was the first pickup spot that Sontsa could get the Kiwi bus and go to the next scheduled stop on her Kiwi route that we both wanted to see, which was a little town called Waitomo. So, we both traveled to Waitomo on separate buses & met up at the hostel later that day. This tiny town basically consisted of a couple of hostels, a campground, a post office, a bank, a tiny general store, and about four restaurants/bars. However, what makes Waitomo worthwhile is what is hidden underneath its rolling green hills---over 300 cave systems, many of which are full of glow worms!

So, the caving company Sontsa & I had signed up with came & picked us up from the hostel the afternoon we arrived. Our guide Brendon took us and four other girls (two from Australia & two from Israel) on a wild van ride through winding hills that had gravel roads just barely wide enough for the van...I'm not too sure what would have happened if there had been any other vehicles coming from the opposite direction. Nonetheless, after about 20 minutes, we came to this secluded area in the hills that had a couple of storage sheds, numerous racks of ugly white rainboots, and a little building with a couple of showers, bathrooms, and changing rooms. We got geared up with wetsuits, incredibly ugly pants, harnesses, helmets, and the lovely white rainboots. Then, we hopped back into the van to go winding through the hills for another 10 minutes or so until we arrived at our destination. Brendon had us walk down to this fenceline that had 6 ropes attached. From there, he showed us how to attach the ropes through our harnesses properly in order to repel down into the cave. After some practice, we were ready to go!

We walked down toward the entrance of the cave we'd be exploring, down some steep rock steps, until we finally came to a small wooden bridge that jutted out over the 81-foot drop into the cave =) One by one, we swung out over the ledge & abseiled (repelled) ourselves down. It was awesome. Once we were all down, Brendon had us turn on our helmet lights & we headed into the cave. The cave was filled with 6 inches to 2 feet of seriously cold water at all times. For the record, our huge rainboots did nothing to stop the water from immediately soaking our feet, but no worries. We explored the cave for about 3 hours--crawling through tiny little tunnels, climbing up huge rock formations, and maneuvering our way around and over big gaps in the rocks. The only light in the cave at all came from our helmet lights and....the light from the glow worms! At one point, Brendon had us sit down on this one area of rocks and turn off all of our helmet lights; surrounding us in every direction were glowing lights from thousands of glow worms. It was spectacular! It literally looked like we were sitting underneath the stars.

To add to the day's excitement, Brendon told us near the beginning of our exploration that real cavers are people who explore caves without a guide. Therefore, he said he was going to make us cavers for part of the day: he pointed toward a really steep area of rock about 40 feet up, told us to climb our way up there, go around this and that, then said we'd eventually come to an area with two little tunnels. He instructed us to go through the tunnels in a particular way in order not to get stuck and that he'd meet us on the other side. Sonja lead the way & we all came through like champs! Pretty sweet. Brendon did this to us a few times, so it made the exploring that much more exciting. We also went tubing through a few parts of the cave & got to pet some friendly cave eels! They were pretty awesome. The ones we saw ranged from 1 to 2.5 feet long, but they can get much bigger. About 2 hours into our trip, Brendon surprised us with some hot juice and every girl's dream...CHOCOLATE! Mmmmm...good. The deepest point that we explored in the cave was about 150 feet below the surface--I still have a hard time believing I did that! At the end of our caving adventure, we had to somehow get back to the surface. So, one by one, we rock climbed our way out about 60 feet up. Brendon called me Spiderwoman when I reached the top haha. It was a really amazing day!

Sontsa & I spent the evening together eating garlic bread for dinner (because it was the cheapest thing on the menu of the only restuarant/bar still open after 8:00 pm) haha..real healthy. The next morning, we said goodbye before leaving on separate buses. I headed back up to Auckland where I met up with another familiar face (Greg) & she headed further down south on the Kiwi Experience bus. I have a LOT more to write about since my arrival in Auckland over a week ago, but that will have to wait for the next blog. Greg & I have done some traveling together around Auckland, Whangarei & Raglan, and we are headed to Waiheke Island this afternoon. I plan to stay in Waiheke for about a week, then will be meeting back up with Sontsa. Until next time!

Cheers,
Ash