TE KUITI – WAITOMO GLOWCAVES – RAGLAN – TE KAUWHATA, 24 May 2024
The Waitomo Glowcaves. Where do I even begin to talk about Waitomo? Climbing up tight rock chambers while being pelted with a rushing waterfall? Having hot chocolate with our feet dangling over a chasm? Or the fact that I’ve seen universes and galaxies sparkle above me without an inch of sky?
All three?
We set off first thing for our final full camper day toward the Black Water Rafting Co. building where we were undertaking the Black Abyss experience in a private section of Waitomo (which, like most cave attractions, is a broad network). We like private. Private is good.
We met our guides Arron and Mattie, and the others in our group, an Idaho mum and dad who had come to visit and bring back their daughter, who was here as a missionary (I knew from the off what type… more on that later, but! They were incredibly lovely) – for the sake of good housekeeping, compared with tour people who gave permission. Let’s call the daughter B. She was in her early 20s and very witty! Then there was C and A, a couple from Perth. C was a great guy, Maōri raised in Tauranga before moving to Aus, so Mattie (also Maōri) called him a “Mozzie,” which got a good laugh!
We all really got on, all of us egging each other on to make sure we chose the adventurous options each time. It was lovely and just interesting to meet new people with new takes and perspectives. B and I during a section where we had to swim (oh yeah! It was that kinda day!) Had a great conversation about human nature and the power and capacity of Faith as a phenomena. It was great!
BUT, BACK TO THE CAVES AND WORMS AND COOL SH*T
We locked away our clothes and towel, leaving only our trunks on as we got into our wet suits and jackets. Sealed in doesn’t cover it, and the socks were already cold and wet before we shoved our feet into white wellies and donned our light helmet and our harness for the abseil. One van ride later and a quick test to show we could rappel with the cave equipment, and we were ready.
I was donned “best abseiler” by Mattie just because I got the right biting point that allowed me to drop at a decent speed. There is honestly nothing as cool as squeezing through a tight section of rock (there were many versions of this sentence, get your mind out of the gutter), then suddenly have the it yawn out into a dark cavern lit only by the helmet. I kicked off the wall as I made my way down and fully… I felt like I was Lara Croft! (Or Nathan Drake for the younguns). It was a drop of around 115 feet straight from the forest floor. I am so, so here for this adventure sh*t. You do one bungy, and all of a sudden, I wanna build a log cabin and go spelunking!
We made our way deeper and deeper into the network before we came to a zipline, which we did in pitch black… almost. That was our first *proper** (other than a few here and there) encounter with the world famous Aotearoan Glowworm! The zipline wasn’t through a huge cave chamber, it was through a clear night sky! They were hypnotic.
Then rest no.1, where Jon andnI had our little cookies and hot chocolate (vegan friendly) and dangled our feet over the edge. Empire State, eat your heart out!
After that, it was black water rafting time. We were handed black rubber rings (tubes etc. They have different names everywhere), and we all jumped into the water below us hidden in the dark, going underwater and popping back up!
I’m not kidding when I say today might be the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
I don’t want to spoil too much for those interested in going (DO IT!), but we got an amazing tour of the glowworm main clusters and saw they’re mucus strands and their inch long bodies too. Glowworms need to catch 4 insects, give or take, to turn into a fungus gnat. So, the mucus strands are like fishing rods, and the glow is purely a lure. It was fascinating to see.
We traversed the caves, had a few more breaks deep underground, swam, and eventually, to get out, we had to free climb two 7+ ft powerful waterfalls. It was so action-packed and relaxing in equal measure. Seeing our suits steam as we stood in the cold water was crazy. All in all, we all left simply beaming ear to ear.
The coolest 5 hours and a damn sight better than a 40-minute boat ride.
As we were leaving B revealed herself to be a Mormon missionary (called it) and asked if I wanted a bible, which I declined nicely and said Christianity just wasn’t the one for me (too many ills, I think. Though I think my issues are more with the Church(es) than Christianity itself). They took it very kindly, and we all remarked how we loved the group we had. B and I continued to laugh about things long afterward!
One damn good shower and some soup later, we got in the van and headed to the little artsy seaside town of Raglan for somewhere picturesque to end on.
To repay for his Queenstown cardiac arrest, Jon bought me dinner at another phenomenal pizza place, Piacè. I loved the vibe. It had a real artsy pop-up vibe that reminded me of Birmingham with a mix of Totnes or Farnborough.
We walked along the beach as the sun set and laughed and chatted about going home, future plans, and our favourite memories, but mainly the sheer fact of what we’d done. This trip had been talked of for 15 years and actively planned for 2.5, and now, here we were at the other end. We did it. We did the thing!
It was a short van ride up to a lovely little freedom camp space in Te Kauwhata that’s kept up by the local sports clubs for kids where we could hook power up to the van again and have a fully heated van for our last night and we stayed up laughing and chatting away. I cracked open and toasted the tour with my ale from Hobbiton, and eventually, the moon rose, and our final night in Aotearoa came to a close.
We were both incredibly thankful that first thing in the morning, we were dropping off the van and having a day in Auckland ahead of a midnight flight.
One last time, with feeling!
– Jake,
26 May 2024
P.S. Jon is also writing about his version of events over on his Tumblr page, Misplaced Midlanders! Check it out!
The Long Expected Journey 