Episode 2: Coromandel to Waitomo
Ray and Jeanne ready to visit Waitomo Caves
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Episode 2: Page 2 of 2 Tongariro National Park
to Waitomo Caves
Wednesday, 19
December 2001, Rotorua, NZ
Continued from Episode
2: Page 1 Thames to Tongariro
There was no great sunset that night as the clouds
were descending into the valley. The clouds were still
around in the morning and we could no longer see the
snowy slopes of Ruapehu. People were up and away even
earlier, but we weren’t in such a great rush, so we
waited until 8:30 AM to leave. We had all day to hike to
Whakapapa Village, where we would be picked up by a bus
at 4:15 PM. Our only concern was to avoid the
promised afternoon rain. It was warm enough for shorts
and t-shirts, but we kept the rain covers on our
backpacks, just in case. The first few hours of the tramp
led through barren lands, which reminded Ray of the
Arctic tundra, just low shrubs and lichens, with the
occasional flower clump. At times we hiked in kiwi mist,
but it never amounted to anything. We took a short side
trip to Lower Tama Lake, a green crater lake. From this
point on we crossed paths with groups of Sunday hikers,
as this is a popular area for day trips. The shrubs got a
little taller and the vegetation a little denser as we
climbed to the highest point of our day. Down below was Whakapapa Village, but it
was still a long way off. We stopped for some lunch, then
started downhill to a sign post offering two route
choices, both one hour to the village. We took the very
pretty option past the Taranaki Falls, and through
another woods beside the rushing river. We made it to the
village by 2 PM, just as a light rain was falling, but
before it got bad enough to put on our rainwear. We
celebrated the end of our tramp with a hot chocolate and
a snack in a café. We had lots of time to visit the
local DOC information centre and find out more about
volcanos and Tongariro Park before the bus came.
Lower Tama Lake
Taranaki Falls
The weather report for the next four days was more of
the same; cloud and rain, so we decided to backtrack
north and visit Waitomo Caves. The glow worm caves were
supposed to be fascinating but we don’t like paying large
entrance fees and being herded along with hoards of other
tourists. We like to do things on our own schedule, so we
had opted to bypass the area. We changed our mind after
talking to the only Kiwi we met on our tramp. He assured
us there were other options and they would be worth our
while.
We drove up to Te Kuiti, a small town near the caves,
found a backpackers hostel out in the country and got
talked into an ideal way to spend a rainy day. We signed
up for a Rap, Raft and Rock trip. We met our guide,
Marcus, and the other four participants at the info
centre at Waitomo Caves at 9 AM on Tuesday, Dec 18. We
all piled into a jeep and drove over dirt roads about 10
K south of Waitomo. The whole area is riddled with
limestone karst caves and the company we chose has
exclusive use of a long section of one of them. We
stopped at a hut where we were outfitted with Farmer John
wetsuits over our bathing suits and t-shirts, white
rubber boots and a power pack on a belt around our waists.
We piled into the jeep once more and drove a little
further to another hut in a sheep paddock. Here we got
helmets with miners lights on front and waist harnesses
with carabiner clips to attach to ropes to get us into
the caves. We were going to rappel (or abseil) 27 Meters
down to the opening of an underground river. All kitted
out we walked downhill, stepping carefully through the
sheep shit to what appeared to be a sink hole. There were
wooden steps leading still further down and finally, a
small platform and ropes attached securely, we trusted,
to the limestone rocks lining the sink hole. The rocks
fell straight down to a stream below. We all practised
attaching the carabiner clips, the belays for the rope,
and it was the first person’s turn to descend. It
looked like fun to me but Ray and another fellow,
Richard, were not so sure. Richard was cracking lots of
jokes about the stupidity of the whole experience and I
didn’t think he was helping the situation. The first
person stepped off the platform into the void and
gradually lowered herself to the stream below, detached
the safety rope and sent it back up to the surface. A
piece of cake. When it was Ray’s turn he hesitated a bit
getting off the platform. All of a sudden he was off and
dangling. I told him to smile while I took his picture,
then he too was down. Marcus told me he slipped off the
platform, but Ray said Marcus kicked his feet out!
Anyway, Ray enjoyed the ride down.
Marcus followed us quickly and once down, handed each
of a us a large truck inner tube, our raft through the
underground river. Instead of just getting in and
floating down, we first walked up[stream into the cave
against the current. A few 100 meters inside, Marcus told
us to turn our headlights out. He smacked his tube in the
water and the sound reverberated around the cave. We
looked up and it was as if someone had strung mini white
Christmas lights on the roof of the cave. Ray thought it
looked like the Milky Way. These are the glow worms. They
are sort of like our fire flies, but are the larvae stage
of a fly. They lie suspended in webs and shine their
lights. Midges and other insects fly towards to light,
thinking it is sunlight they see, get caught in the webs
and become glow worm lunch instead.
We got on the tubes and floated down the river, lit by
the light of the glow worms, back to where we had
rappelled down. We didn’t stop there, we continued on
with the current into the caves at the other side of the
opening. The glow worms did their thing and once again
Marcus smacked his tube in the water. The light doubled
as more of the glow worms were shocked into action. Every
now and then we stopped while we manoeuvred through an
especially strong current or walked over a shallow bit.
Some sections were quite narrow, but it was easy to push
away from the rock sides and kept facing downstream.
We had a welcome hot cider and chocolate break,
huddled on a rocky ledge above the stream. Marcus led us
back through a few narrow tunnels, then back into the
stream again. It was harder on the return leg as we had
to walk against the current, holding onto the inner tube.
It is much more fun to float down. Once back to the
start, it was time to climb out. Marcus showed us the way
up and out. One by one we were attached to a safety rope
and then, without using the rope at all, we just climbed
up the rock cliff. There were plenty of foot and hand
holds so it was easier than it first looked.
Once out, we walked back up the sheep paddock, scaring
all the sheep, and gave back our helmets and waist
harnesses. We piled into the jeep and returned to the
first shed, where we peeled off the wet suits and emptied
our rubber boots. We were all wet and muddy, but there
were warm showers to wash us off. We had kept warm enough
in the caves, but it was good to get cleaned up again.
Everybody agreed they had had a great day and wouldn’t
hesitate to do it again.
Back in Waitomo,
we had a late lunch and drove down the road to take a
short walk around an underground tunnel. Boardwalks led
the way through dense rainforest running beside a swift
river that suddenly cascaded into a limestone tunnel,
only to make a u-turn underground and emerge in a
waterfall at the other end. There were several
informative signs along the way explaining the phenomena
of the caves and the flora covering the forest. The Kiwis
do a very good job of maintaining their parks.
As you have seen from my letter head, we are back in
Rotorua. We have reservations in Napier for Dec 24 and we
are hoping to fit in a few more walks before then.
Depending on the weather, we can do several day walks
around Rotorua and we might fit in an overnighter in the
Whirinaki Forest, between here and the east coast. As
long as it looks like a half nice day, we will be outside
somewhere.
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