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Waitomo Caves - New Zealand
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This morning I made my way over to the Waitomo Caves for my Abseiling / Blackwater raft excursion. Unsure of what to expect, I made my way to the Long Black cafe and signed in for my trip. The facilities were clean and modern, with flat screen tvs on the wall, internet stations, a cafe, and a young staff working the counters. At about 9:30, Wendy one of our tour guides began gathering everyone together, of course I was the last one she found, must of seemed invisible.
Our group consisted of five people; me, Chris from Denver, Co., a young married couple from the U.K., and an spirited elderly lady from the U.K. We made our way to the back and were introduced to our other tour guide, Dennie (toilet, liu in Australia) who was anything but what his name indicated. Our guides were great right from the very beginning getting us our wet suites, harnesses, cow tails, and lighted helmets all outfitted.
After getting all suited and geared up we took our first group photo, piled into the van and headed over to the Cave entrance where Dennie gave us instruction on how to down the cave and how to use our cow tails (clips for sliding down the rope). Dennie ( a big, strapping kiwi with personality and physique to match) gave a great presentation; apparently to stop from descending you have to shove your thumb behind your back and up your bum, otherwise you will continue to fall.
After a few practice runs up and down the hill we made our way over to the big hole in the ground. Wendy had already made here way down the cave and was standing by to make sure we were making it down the entrance ok. I wasn't prepared for having to support my own weight as I dangled in the air over the hole in the ground with my thumb up my bum so I wouldn't fall. The descent wasn't to bad, however, I found managing my own weight descending a little more difficult than I thought. Occasionally I bumped into the side of the wall but soon remembered to use my legs to support my feet to avoid bumping all the way down.
As we made our way down we headed over to the swing portion of journey which had us sliding down into the cave in pitch darkness. The guides instructed us to turn our helmets off because they did not want us to see what was beneath us. Again, the feeling of dangling in a harness with just the cow tails holding me was not the most reassuring feeling. As I slid down into the black abyss, I had no idea how far or long I would be going and I was filled with the fear I was going to slam into a wall.
Within a few seconds of those thoughts, it came to a sudden stop, the rope tightened and I was suspended in pitch darkness. As I look up I see the cave ceiling is a glow with hundreds of blue bright lights (it is beautiful even if it is really maggot poo). I was dangling in my harness wondering what was next when I heard rustling in front of me. A light turned on and it was Dennie! How are ya mate?
As the rest of our group made their way down, we were instructed to keep our lights off so they could have same experience of be emerged into complete darkness and seeing the glow worms. The experience was actually quite peaceful, sitting down against the rock and looking up to see the cave lit by bright blue lights. After everyone made it down in one piece, we all sat on the ledge of the limestone and were provided hot chocolate and wheat cakes (the wheat cakes were soo good!). I really wasn't expecting hot chocolate 90 feet below in a cave, but it was definitely a nice touch.
Once we all had our share of hot chocolate and wheat cakes, we were each given inter tubes and took turns jumping off the ledge (six or seven feet) into the water below. I have to say I was impressed I managed to stay in my inter tube when I jumped in. The water was cold and went up my nose a little but it was still fun. I haven't been in an inter tube since I was nine or ten catching waves in Virgina Beach.
After we were all situated in our inter tubes, we paddled to the side of the wall where we found rope to help guide us along the water. The ceilings on these caves are from approximately 40 to seventy five feet high in places. After about five or so minutes, we stopped and Dennie asked us to turn off our helmet lights. It was time for a little bit of history on glow-worms, life expectancy, eating, and mating habits. Sitting in the inter tube looking up at the ceiling was quite relaxing for me.
Once were finished with our glow-worm trivia, we made a train of our inter tubes with our arms and feet interlocked and headed back the way we came. Dennie, our guide, gave us an audio presentation on the acoustics of the cave via inter tube rubber smacking against the water with a high force and speed. The caves have great acoustics and can reverberate up to thirty seconds.
We stopped at the ledge where we originally jumped off of and returned our inter tubes to Wendy. At this point, another group was beginning to make their way into the cave. This began our walking tour through the cave, which is a bit like walking after you had one too many drinks because the bottom is uneven and you can't see where you're walking. Our guide, Dennie made use of the holes in the limestone walls to demonstrate the acoustics of the cave. Once we had finished our walking tour through the cave, we all sat down on the edge and Wendy gave us our second treat; hot lemon tea and chocolate. One could get spoiled with this kind of treatment, but we were all wet and a little cold so it felt good. Wendy had a trick for warming us up without drinking the tea and asked if anyone would like to see? I acknowledged I would like to volunteer, so she took the cup from my hand and splashed some cold water in it to cool it down. She asked me to unzip my wet suite, and the she poured the contents into my wet suite. I have to say it worked really well, I warmed up nicely:-)
After we were done with our tea and chocolate, it was time to head toward the exit which required climbing three waterfalls. On my first ascent up the first waterfall, a team of abseilers caught up with us. The team leader, Tom, asked me if I would like to see an eel? An eel, down here, are you serious I said. Tom reaches into a crevice behind me and pulls out a one and a-half foot eel and shows it to me. I said, "it won't bite me, will it?" Not yet, he says. he even went down with his digital camera and took a picture of it. That eel was way too slimy and I didn't want to touch it. The thought of those things down there, I wondered how big they got? To his credit, Tom was all kiwi spirit and I have to admire him for that.
As we all made our ascent up the three waterfalls and out into the open pond, it was time for a group photo. We had made it and it was an exhilarating experience! We all piled back into the van and headed back to the Long Black Cafe for bagels and soup. I asked for pictures of our guides, but apparently they didn't make it on the cd.
The Waitomo area has hundreds of caves, the largest being the Lost World experience which descend three hundred feet. I really did enjoy the experience and I'd highly recommend it as a must do while in New Zild.
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