Lost World Glowworm Adventure

As I was researching fun things to do in New Zealand, I kept coming back to a glowworm caving adventure.  According to the advertising we would abseil 100 meters down into a cavern then tromp through a river experiencing waterfalls, cliffs, eels, and ultimately astounding glowworm caves.  It appealed to every adventurous bone in my body and I just had to say yes.  Oh my goodness, it was everything I hoped it would be and more.  

When we arrived the seven of us in the tour piled into the van with two tour guides, Chris and Chao, and they drove us to the cave.  It sounds like most caves are owned by the farmers who farm over the top of them and they lease out that part of their land to the private companies who organize the tours.  Our tour group had a home base set up where they distributed our wet suits, boots, helmets, and harnesses.  It was quite the process to get everyone set up with all of their gear.  As we suited up we learned a little bit about the others in the group.  We had a couple from the Czech Republic, a couple from Seattle and Boston, a bachelor from Austria, and our guides from New Zealand and China.  It was a pretty great group.  

We practiced using our gear before heading to the drop-in zone at the cave.  Looking down to the cave floor it was hard to distinguish what we were seeing since it was so far down.  They advertise the tour as a lost world.  It really looks like a lost world.  Vines and leaves covered the walls, a small river was running down below, and the cavern was filled with mist from the humidity.  It was insanely gorgeous.  Even though harnesses aren't the most comfortable things, I wish we could have lingered simply because it was such a neat experience. 

At the cave floor Chao pulled out our lunch.  We were instructed to eat up because we would need all the energy we could get.  I ate, because that's what I do, but I wasn't too worried about the exertion level that would be expected of us.  Jeremy and I are athletes, we'd be fine.  As a spoiler alert, by the end of the excursion I was absolutely exhausted.  My legs burned and I was ready for a nap!  We lingered for awhile in the cavern entrance enjoying the view and our last glimpse of daylight for the next four hours.  

When our guides took us down into the river to start wading upstream instead of around the dry rocks I had a feeling we were in for a treat.  The rest of the day was a complete blur of adventure.  We had no watches and no daylight to help us keep track of time.  Towards the end not one of us really had any sense for how long we had been down there.  We trudged through the river sometimes wading in shallow water, sometimes pulling ourselves along using the side walls as supports, sometimes swimming with eels, and sometimes Jeremy floated down the river completely still like a dead body (a little creepy but he said it was really relaxing).  During one of those deep water times our guides had us turn off our lights.  Just a foot above our heads were glowworms hanging out on the ceiling.  We could see their reflection in the water and I felt completely separated from the rest of the world.  It was extraordinary.  

At one point our guides had us climb up a rock then informed us that we would be jumping through a small hole in the ground to reach the river again.  Not only that, but after they had us oriented they turned off our lights and we jumped in complete darkness.  I knew it wasn't far down but it was still a moment of trust and terror as we didn't know how far down we'd be falling.  

Our guides also challenged us to try to pull ourselves up and over the unpassable waterfall.  Jeremy made it up with hardly any trouble at all.  I followed but got stuck and was feeling completely battered by the oncoming water and needed to let go as I washed downstream for a small break.  But after I saw another girl make it up, I knew I had to try again.  I wedged my knee in a crack, tried to find my footing and willed myself up.  Most of the way up my foot began to slip out of my boot.  I couldn't get any traction and I was starting to slip.  Chris was there and after failing to get my foot back in my boot just took it off, stuck it between his teeth, and gave me one final heave to get situated before I finished scampering up.  What a kind soul.  I jumped off the ledge back into the pool, but then took the ladder up the second time.  It wasn't our only chance to jump off ledges and we had a few cannon ball contests.

In one section the river flowed under a large rock.  It wasn't long but it was possible for us to ride the river under the rock, holding our breath the whole way.  Originally I wasn't going to do it, as drowning stuck under a rock is pretty high up on the ways that I don't want to die.  After seeing others successfully make it through, Jeremy leading the pack, I had to join in.  It was fun but slightly terrifying.  Some points of the cave were so small that we were on our bellies crawling through in army crawl.  It felt a lot like Nutty Putty caves.  

Just as I thought that the experience couldn't get any better Chris and Chao had us lay down on a large rock.  I thought that we were getting some well-deserved rest.  I was pretty tired.  It's amazing how heavy those boots get when filled with water.  A quad stretch helped dump out the majority of the water but there was always water sloshing around.  We turned off our lights (for nap time right?), but what we saw was so much better.  Completely covering the ceiling above us were thousands of glowworms.  They stretched both ways as far as I could see, under ledges, and around the bend we had just passed.  I felt like I was in another galaxy floating in space.  It was completely surreal.  Naturally I tried looking for constellations since they looked like stars but I had to keep reminding myself that they were worms instead of stars.  Their lights consistently shown, not a single flicker and it was beautiful.  If I was a Kiwi I would spend hours in those caves looking at those worms.  When you look at them closely you can see their threads hanging down that help them catch their food.  They look like drops of water strung together in perfect symmetry.  

After that grand finale I was feeling pretty satisfied as we worked out way out of the cave.  It felt a little strange to see sunlight again.  We only worked our way about 2 km up the river but it felt like a lot more than that.  Once above ground we had to walk another 2 km back to camp in our wetsuits and sloshing boots.  At least the country side was green and gorgeous.  Once we made it to camp we were able to take a hot shower and change into dry clothes.  The water in the cave wasn't super cold, but I was still shivering at times and I was so grateful to have a chance to warm up.  While we changed Chris cooked us a BBQ dinner.  My plate was piled high with steak, sausage, potatoes, grilled pumpkin, a beet relish, garlic bread, and green salad.  I was a pig and ate it all!  It felt like a big family farmhouse dinner.  By this point we were pretty friendly with everyone in our group and we loved sharing our favorite parts of our trip.  Christ taught us that if we think something is cool, it's "chur" in Kiwi.  And if it's extremely cool then it's "chur to the chur."  It totally reminds me of something a surf bum would say.  But yes, this trip was definitely chur to the chur.