The Caves of Death

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Driving Down to Raglan

The next stop after The Rock and the Bay of Islands involves a fairly serious drive down to Raglan, a small surf town. While this should be a straightforward affair down the SH-1 through Auckland somewhere before Auckland our travellers encounter a torrential downpour followed by a tailback of stationary cars. After about an hour of not moving, people switching off their engines, getting out for a chat and a smoke, the traffic starts moving again - nasty accident. A recurring theme of New Zealand so far has been only just getting to wherever in time before places stop serving food (usually at 9pm) and the journey to Raglan looks like it will be no different. Travelling through the dark at night taking the satnav option feels like a wise one.

Having arrived and left the van in the least-waterlogged pitch our travellers leg it across the walkbridge hoping that somewhere's still serving. Suprise surprise, they find a fairly decent newly-refurbished restaurant which just happens to have a couple they met on The Rock in it, who're actually Americans living in New Zealand who have friends in Raglan. One of the destinations along the way - Doubtful Sound - is tipped as a great place to go.

That night heavy rain continues to drum on the roof and Tim and Sue have to set up the campervan for sleeping the first time without actually getting out of the van - all done from the inside - which is no mean feat. They begin to wonder if getting a campervan has been a mistake....

The Waiotomo Caves

The next morning involves a frustrating drive on down to Waiotomo. This time plenty of driving time was left but no-one bargined on being stuck by what must have been the stinkiest and slowest-driving chicken truck in New Zealand. Oh well - welcome to New Zealand, people do a lot of farming here and leave more time next time.

That hiccup aside, our intrepid travellers arrive to take part in a wetsuited underground caving experience in the Waiotomo Caves - also known to the locals as The Caves of Death. Luckily our guides Rob and Dean know exactly what they're doing (fairly humourous joking about the operation of helmet lamps turns out to be not-so-silly when we actually try them out) so we suit up in preparation for our underground expedition. Tim thinks Sue has never looked more the part in wetsuit and caving helmet.

(It's worth noting at this point that Tim has noticed advisory sheets stuck to the walls about water height limits, 0.75m being the absolute limit for "strong and experienced" cavers).

The caves themselves are a relatively recent discovery - they were discovered during surveys for a local railway but only really explored during the 50s when peoplebecome aware of just how deep they are and what extent they have. It's fairly bizarre stuff - you're walking along on the hill and - oh - there's a massive deep open cave right below you.

They familiarise us with the basics of clipping our safety equipment on during a trial run. Then it's off to the cave proper. The only way to get down into it? Abseil. 100m. Okey dokey. Sue, weren't you originally going to organise this as your birthday treat?

Well, unless you've a lot of experience dangling off into the abyss from a great height this is a fairly big ask. Not really helped by the see-through grill platform that is the preparation area for the descent. "OK, now I want you to lean out to that bar over the edge and get used to the height." Sue points out that she's not sure her legs are long enough to reach without falling through the gap. Tim makes it out and a huge bout of vertigo passes when he realises he's not really going anywhere. Sue swings out and sits on the bar but she's developed disco legs and has a rather... disconcerted look on her face (don't worry Mum and Dad we were still connected by cow tails to the bars on the platform but even so!).

Actually, the worst bit is now over - once over the edge safety clips are rearranged and there's an explaination as to how to control the descent. Everyone's ultimately clipped to Dean who has an inertial reel to stop anyone getting too gung ho. The descent itself is very magical - there's a lot of mist in the cave with the river running along the bottom and the light comes in from the long fissure at the top so everything glows. Tim's a bit more comfortable looking down than Sue and can't get over how high up they are. It's a fantastic feeling and feels very Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (if you've ever played the game or in fact are actually a soldier) controlling the descent with the lower leg wrapped around the rope - 100m of which is very heavy.

Finally - touchdown. Everyone's very pleased and sits down for a post-adrenaline lunch. Tim notices a depth meter as they're eating - it's at 0.75m - and connects all the heavy rain they've experienced in the last couple of days with the fact that they're sitting by an underground river. Ah, right.

For some strange reason all Tim and Sue really thought about was that there would be an abseil and an underground walk. Somehow they've not thought through what a Rambo Rating of 8/10 on the reviews really means. This is billed as the Epic Lost World tour, after all. Right.

The underground tour begins walking up past the river to where it comes in to get some classic shots sillouetted against the cave. Then it's into the water properly for the first time and the 4mm wet suits are very neccessary. The water is chest-deep on Tim and Sue's clambering along the cave wall (you can imagine how high the water was on Sue). The strength of the current is a real surprise - keeping to the wall out of the main force of the flow is essential and it's real hand-over-hand stuff. Tim keeps close behind Sue at this point as she has a real height disadvantage and has to catch her when she comes away from the wall.

The light from the main cave has completely gone now - switch off the headlamp (glad of the earlier practice) and it's pitch black. The sound of the water gushing is deafening at times. Next up is a rope climb to get out of the water higher up in the caves - very Batman stuff.

Once everyone is up in the dry Rob reveals a narrow hole ringed by an unsettling formation of stalagtites and stalagmites. "This formation is know as The Jaws of Death - and it's the way down to the next bit of the river." Yay! You have to drop down into a water cave. Only everyone's got to do it in pitch darkness. Dean freaks everyone out by giving the impression that it's a much longer drop than it really is.

Brave Sue goes first (and luckily misses one of the other girls freaking out and starting to cry). The timing of the 'whoop!' and splash reveal the drop to not be so severe. Tim gets in - you have to hang resting your weight on your elbows, feet dangling, then lights off, tuck in and fall. Whoo hoo. It's probably about 3m or 4m. Great fun.

A bit further on the group has to cross a waterfall that's not difficult to get by but has to be negotiated carefully as has a deep circulating pool under it which could be hard to get out of. This is followed by shinbreaker alley which is full of submerged limestone slabs, good for catching your legs on.

Some of the gaps after this are very narrow, with the full force of the river squeezing through a tiny gap. Getting through is very hard work for Tim and Sue only gets through by Dean grabbing her harness from the front and Tim pushing from behind. Blimey.

A respite from the water sees the group climbing up a long steel ladder that someone's helpfully erected. This is followed by the only real squeeze under a massive rock to be caught in another classic camera shot before the tour's main event. It's lights off everyone - time to see the gloworms.

It really is like looking up at a galaxy. The worms sometimes follow the seams of the rock and they're all of different levels of brightness so they seem to go on forever, so many of them.

The last part of the tour is made by actually using the light of the gloworms to find the exit before the daylight of the cave exit is visible - about 7 hours after going under ground. It felt like a long way but when they get above ground it's clear they actually haven't come far at all.

Thankfully the tour includes a slap-up barbeque afterwards - food has never tasted so good.

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Photos

Smile Like You Mean It
Some people actually do this for fun, you know.

F*** M* It's A Long Way Down
Special Forces eat your heart out.

Keep A Tight Hold Of That Lunch Box
Our fellow cavers look down on us.

Deep Down, Underground
Usain Bolt would be proud.

Hello!
It's great not being dead.

Urk!
Maybe that second pasty yesterday was a mistake.