Tubing, Waitomo, NZ

Waitmomo Caves Hotel

According to an old page on the local New Zealand online news site, the grand Waitomo Caves Hotel is the forth most haunted spot and the most haunted hotel in New Zealand. Weirdly enough if we had known this we probably would not have booked a night there, and thinking about it now, in hindsight even with our GrabOne voucher it seemed like too good of a deal. But really, when they said that Queen Elizabeth stayed here on her tour of New Zealand, how could we not? 

Well, just reading more stories on Wikipedia as we munched on our BBQ chicken pizza dinner down the road was enough to consider not going back. Claims of bathtubs dripping blood, orbs bouncing around the driveway, moving lights, laughter and screams didn't help the food go down. But we'd had such a big day and we needed to rest somewhere so after dinner we hesitantly returned before the sun set, looking skeptically at the old Victorian wooden building, which was built in 1908, in a different, more sinister light. 

Our Black Water rafting group

Quickly we walked up the stairs, talking loudly over any noise that might have, or might not have been there before climbing straight into bed. Everything was calm and everything was normal. Closing our eyes we could see tiny stars glowing far away and could hear the sound of dripping water, something already of a fading memory. We were both transported back in the dark wet caves under Waitomo like mole rats hiding from the sun. It had been an exhausting and energetic yet fantastic day exploring the limestone caves under the earth. 

Loaded into the van

Waitomo (translated as 'water passing through a hole') and it's infamous caves are located in King Country and are increasingly popular for cave tourism. According to our lonely planet guide, the caves were discovered by Maori 400-500 years ago when a Kawhia tribe hunter was attacked by a pack of dogs living in the cave entrance. Although they all were caught and eaten the cave was named Ruakuri (Den of dogs) and was used as a sacred burial site. Although the Maori had little interest in exploring within the caves until around 1886 when Chief Tane Tinorau ventured inside with English explorer Fred Mace on a surveying expedition.   

We are ready to tube! 

What they found has led to today's booming tourism industry. Stunning limestone caves noted for their impressive stalactite and stalagmite displays and the huge presence of glowworms. We had been gifted last Christmas an amazing black water rafting experience through the caves and we were here to use our voucher. So lying in bed, listening half heartedly for noises that shouldn't be there we reflected over our awesome day!

It was a cold morning: white fog still played in the gullies and ran freely across low paddocks. We had arrived from Te Kuiti around 9.30am which had given us just enough time to sign the health and safety forms and wiggle into the figure-hugging-but-thankfully-dry black wetsuits, a little pair of tight black booties and an additional wetsuit type jacket. 

A little cold in the bush

Collecting our tires

Our locally owned and operated tour company, Caveworld have access to Footwhistle Cave also known as Te Anaroa Cave and so as our group came together we quickly set off for Footwhistle. 

Entering the caves

Our guide, Tom seemed very excited to have the opportunity to show us the Caves and bounded two steps ahead, racing up the lumpy paddock. Not wanting anyone to miss out he yelled bits of information over one shoulder and then turned his head to yell over the other shoulder. 

Never stopping the onslaught of what, by the flabbergasted looks on their faces, seemed to the foreigners in our group a crazy man running up a hill shouting in an unintelligible language. Of course every sentence ended with an 'aye' and the next started with 'cumon bru, fasta!'. 

In all honesty it wasn't possible to move faster, like penguins we waddled in our tight wetsuits up the hill. After five hundred meters we were all given a large black tire ring tube to carry which had been sitting on a post under the trees. After a quick photo, up we continued to march along the damp paddock, still like penguins, still waddling! 

Without a guide we would have probably missed the small cave entrance, which was very discreet, covered by thick green bush. There was no entrance signs only a crevice noticeable only by a trained eye and when you looked carefully a small narrow rickety stairway could be seen running down alongside a large rock.

Down we plundered with our tubes, only the dim lamps on our yellow helmets illuminating a small part of the path in front of us. The dark wet walls surrounded us, closing in and the air grew warmer and thicker. 

Tire- man ...ready to start!

We explored the tunnel, moving deeper and deeper underground sometimes walking over a creaky wooden bridge and man-made steps or other times cut into the rock face. Instructed to turn off our lamps we were plunged into a deep lonely darkness. But high above us like the millions of stars in the sky were scores of glistening lights flickering yellow (and almost a blue) they fought for attention; no bigger than the average mosquito: the glow worm. As was explained, the little guy is just the larval stage of an insect called the fungus gnat. 

Looking at the glowworm bottoms

Soon the real adventure begun: the jumping, sliding and floating! Down, deep in the cold narrow murky underground rivers, too deep to touch the bottom, we sat on the fading black donut tires our bottoms hanging through the holes. Aware that other creatures could be living in the cave we apprehensively kept our limbs in as much as humanly possible.  We caressed the water moving slowly, bouncing off the rock walls. The lights from our helmets shining dimly over the wet walls.

Getting ready for his slide

Floating down the river

The experience continued and the bubbly guides pointed out different rock formations and helped us climb in and out of the water. One of the top highlights included a thirty meter hydro water slide which thrusted us into the darkness before landing into a large dark pool of water. 

Landing at the bottom of the hydro slide

The black water rafting was a wicked experience and we hope to get the opportunity to go caving again! 

Tot siens,

John and Kara