December 30

Greymouth: Taniwha Cave Rafting

It was cloudy and chilly this morning. I had a "cave rafting" trip booked for this afternoon with Wild West Adventures, and had no reason to get up early. I had tried to get a space on the morning tour, but it was already full. In the morning, I drove downtown for some groceries. Later, I had lunch at the hostel and got ready for the cave trip. All that was needed was a bathing suit and a towel. A wetsuit, boots, and other equipment would be provided.

A van picked me up at 1:15. The cave guide was driving. He was fairly heavy, with long hair and a beard. We picked up several other people downtown, seven in all, and drove to Wild West Adventures headquarters at a nearby lodge outside Greymouth.

We went into the indoor pool/spa building to get wetsuits and gum-boots. Wool socks were also provided, but I had my own. I didn't think the gum-boots were ideal cave boots. They were rather loose without laces, and the soles were not very thick. The morning's tour returned as we put on our wetsuits. A hot shower and use of the spa, with hot drinks, was provided after the caving. We had a short wait for our van. Two of the participant's parents were tagging along to take pictures of the beginning of the trip. They were warned that the walk to the cave was muddy and rather difficult. They decided to come anyway, but took gum-boots.

The drive to the starting point was short. We were all given helmets and electric head-lights, and started walking through the rainforest. The trail was very muddy, as promised. Sometimes the mud was deeper than my boot tops. It made me think that the DOC must put a lot of work into keeping the Milford Track in such good condition, considering all the rain it gets. I started out in the lead, but the guide said I should slow down, so I let someone else go first. He showed us the site of an old gold town from 1930. Nothing was left - it had all been reclaimed by the rainforest. The town was built of wood, which rots quickly here.

Another time, the guide stopped to show us a rare fern. It has a long woody stem with thin leaves radiating outward. We arrived at a small hole leading down a vertical shaft to the cave, and looked down. This entrance could be used to rappel in. Further upstream was the walk-in entrance we would be taking, a low passage entered from the stream. One lady in our group was given a carbide light, while the rest of us used the electric ones. The parents were told we would be back in about three hours, but it was hard to say exactly how long we would be in the cave.

We climbed down into the cave entrance, following the stream. We slid down a small waterfall into a pool. Glow worms were seen throughout the cave, and were especially concentrated in a few spots. We stopped once and turned out our lights. There was enough light from the glow worms to almost see by. We were told how the light attracts flying insects that wash into the cave so they can be caught in sticky webs. Further on, we saw a lot of flowstone, and some small stalactites.

We came to a stack of inner tubes, and put them in the stream. We got in and turned off our lights, and floated downstream beneath the glow worms in the dark. It was like floating below a starry sky. At the end of the water passage, we piled up the inner tubes and went further into the cave.

We had a chance to examine some glow worms up close. They are transparent, unless they have food inside. They can live on one insect every three months. They live inside tubes, and turn around occasionally. One end of the worm has a light. The webs are strands hanging down with sticky beads.

We came to another stack of inner tubes, and floated down a short passage without glow worms. Further on, the guide asked if we wanted to try something more adventurous. We did, and we went up a crawl space, past a steep ledge, to the "love tunnel", a belly crawl through a smooth, narrow passage. For a bonus adventure, we turned our lights out for the crawl. There was one junction where you must make a turn, and we did this by going one at a time, feeling the person's leg in front to tell when to turn. The guide sat in the side tunnel, and glow worms were visible behind him. We crawled down the next tunnel, which sloped downward and ended in water. I was first now, since I had been following the guide. We waited there, in the muddy room with the water, with lights off for everyone to arrive.

The water was full of foam from a plant - some fungus or something - that lives in the forest. It was said to be a protein, similar to albumen. The guide put some in his mouth. Continuing down the water passage, we came to a place I recognized, and started back out, taking the inner tubes back upstream when we came to them.

When we came to the first inner tubes, we carried them to a point a few feet above the water and jumped backwards into them. The second tube passage, with the glow worms, had a stronger current. This time we made a chain and pulled upstream together. We stopped on the way back for candy bars and hot chocolate from a thermos.

We did the final passage without our guide, who left us with instructions, and then went out the way we had come in. I led the way. It was a tight crawl under some flowstone and stalactites, through a series of small pools and one tight hole. It was a particularly attractive passage, with all the smooth flowstone and little pools. My light gave out along the way, and I let someone else pass me. Another person also had dead batteries. It was not far to the entrance, so we just alternated with the people who had lights. We got to the entrance at 6:30, and the parents were gone.

We walked downstream to the final adventure, a hydroslide down a long slippery flat rock into a pool, riding a piece of blue foam rubber. The guide said this was the riskiest part of the trip, with the most potential for injuries, since once you start, there is no way to control the slide or to stop. He demonstrated, warning to hold on tightly to the foam, and to lie back, because you would spin if you sat up.

I did the slide twice. The first time, I turned sideways a bit, and had a rough ride. It went very fast, and as we were told, there was no way to control it. My second run was smoother and faster. Everyone got two runs if they wanted, and then we started back before we pushed our luck too far. We found the parents back by the van. They had gotten tired of waiting by the cave and walked back early.

I asked the guide about other good caves in New Zealand. He told me about Waitomo, which is a famous cave spot on the north island. The Lost World and Haggas Honking Holes tours sounded interesting. He also said there were excellent caves, the Te Tahi tomo, near Charleston, and recommended an adventurous "Xanadu" cave-rafting tour there, which I had also heard about from one of the Deep Canyon Experience people. That cave is supposed to be the biggest in the area. I wouldn't have time to get up there on this trip. In retrospect, it might have been worth driving all the way up there yesterday, instead of stopping in Greymouth, a relatively unattractive town. Charleston is said to have a good brew-pub also, according to Lonely Planet.

At the spa, we removed our wetsuits and boots, and took turns in the shower. Then we got into the well-heated pool or whirlpool bath while the guide prepared hot drinks. Beer was available for purchase. I took a swim in the pool, which was actually uncomfortably warm, and then sat in the whirlpool and had hot chocolate. We had to take turns in the whirlpool because it only held four people. Then I took another swim in the pool, which felt chilly after the whirlpool.

The guide said how he would not go adventuring in Queenstown, because of all the fly-by-night operators there trying to make a fast buck. For example, he told us that one raft company recently drowned several people while operating under unsafe high-water conditions. I had seen something about that in the paper as well. He said Kiwi Discovery Rafts had excellent safety practices, but tourists don't know this. They just read the flashy brochures and can't recognize the fly-by-night operations. Also, A.J. Hackett Bungy is very safe, though the perceived danger is great, which is what makes it thrilling. The guide said he had once gotten drunk and went bungy jumping with some friends one night, which probably wasn't too safe.

It was after 8 PM when I got back to the hostel and made dinner. I made an Indian-style curry with beef and pumpkin and a tomato-onion sauce. I was the last one cooking, and had the kitchen to myself. A group of teenage Americans was staying tonight, and I played Trivial Pursuit with them until 11:30, when one of them, a black boy, was too sleepy to continue. We were playing the Kiwi Edition, full of questions about cricket, rugby and Maoris, that were impossible. We were the last ones up tonight, and I turned off the lights before going to bed.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.