Burnt Bums and Waitomo Caves

So as the sun rose and came brightly through our giant sunroof in the van, I woke up after the most uncomfortable night of sleep to see where we had travelled to the night before. We had slept in the parking lot of Hot Water Beach, but because it had been so dark when we arrived, I had no idea what it looked like. For the most part, it was like any other beach, but the real attraction was far to the left by an outcrop of rock. There was where the hot water from the thermals below ground bubbled up to the surface.

The other group had gone ahead and were already sitting in a shallow hole they had dug as their own personal jacuzzis. I joined them but quickly burnt my bum (yes, the kiwis refer to their bottoms as bums) and had to find a spot that didn't have the hot water bubbling up. Most of the group ended up laying where the water came up from the ocean so they didn't get too hot. At one point I attempted to take a group shot but couldn't stand in the right spot because the sand and water was burning my feet! It was definitely really odd to see steam rising from the sand and watching the waves bubble with boiling water.

After dragging a couple of people away, we got back on the road to head to the area of Waitomo. This was one of things we were anticipating the most because Waitomo caves meant blackwater rafting and glow worms. They were also the caves used in the Planet Earth: Cave episode. After a long drive, we got to a cheap campground where we met quite possibly the nicest kiwi couple yet. Peter was from New Zealand but Linda was from Minnesota and had met him online. They offered us electricity, use of the kitchen, showers, even air mattresses and permission to sleep inside the kitchen if we didn't have tents all for only $10. We swapped stories with them over quesodillas (we were severely missing Mexican food) and eagerly were looking forward to the following day.

Because the caves only did tours of 6, 3 people went in the earlier group while the rest of us went to visit the kiwi house. It was right against the campground and was the very first kiwi house in New Zealand. They were also responsible for breeding and exporting kiwis all over the world. We saw the only large spotted kiwi allowed in captivity and realized that they are fairly awkward looking birds. Then we went to check out the caves.

We arrived at the office then drove another 10 minutes to get to a dressing station for the caves. This meant peeing for the last time for another 4 hours, wearing the most uncomfortable (either too big or too small) overall wetsuits, harnesses,a helmet, huge white rubber rain boots, and a wetsuit jacket. Let me just say, we were all looking really sexy about then. We did some practice abseiling (where you release yourself on a rope down in the cave) before doing it for real. I refused to go first but was still really nervous when it was my turn. Our hot cave guide Mike told me to step off the ledge to hang 90 ft in the air and I think my heart jumped into my throat. I took a step...and didn't move at all. Turns out I wasn't so heavy that it wasn't that hard to control the speed I went down. I took my time absorbing the beautiful scenery of green plants pushing through the cave walls and the river below me.

Once I was at the bottom, I had a good chance to really look around. The main entrance to the cave was more like a crevice than a cave. It was about 90 feet deep and at the bottom had a river. The river ran through a cave to the left and the right and ahead to the left was the area we abseiled down and the right was how we would get out. This was a slight incline with the rock broken away to reveal small ledges where we would eventually have to rock climb out. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.

When we were all down we picked up black intertubes and walked into the caves in the stream. At once, you could see a tiny light of green and then there were more and more lights. We turned off our head lamps and looked around at thousands of green glow worms covering the entire ceiling of the cave. We sat down and looked up at what looked like the night sky with stars of green. Turns out that glow worms are actually larvae or maggots and use sticky threads hanging down to capture food. The light is used to attract insects and they do this for 9 months before they pupate then reproduce and die. We also saw and eel swimming around before we sat down in our intertubes and floated or blackwater rafted down the stream back to the entrance.

Here we ran into the other group and started a water fight, which resulted in me slipping on a rock and landing directly on my thigh while taking down Joanna as well. I have to say, definitely one of my most impressive bruises. We did some more floating before we got to some sections that had tiny holes off to the side. Our guide then asked us if we wanted to try squeezing through them. I did a couple, but Cayla went crazy and went through some of the ridiculously tiny holes. After a hot drink, some story swapping, and some chocolate at the end of the cave, we floated once more under the lights of the glow worms to the entrance.

This was the part I was fearing the most. We were supposed to climb out in oversized rubber boots filled with water, up a slippery rock face and trust that our guide at the top would hold on if we fell. Everyone else did just fine getting up, but there was a certain outcrop that was looking like it was going to cause me some problems. I did alright till I got to the part where I had to pull myself by my arms. I then got to be the only person in the group to fall as I slipped and hit my side against the rock. The adrenaline got me the rest of the way up, and despite being really cool to do, I was a bit shaken inside.

We made it back to the office where we enjoyed some soup, bought pictures of our adventures, and then push started the car out of the parking lot. I do have to say I think my greatest accomplishment was only falling 6 times the whole 4 hours we were down in the caves. It was definitely one of those things you had to do in New Zealand and was worth all the bruises.