Black Water Rafting...WOW!

Up about 8:00, showered, breakfast, then drove down to The Black Water Rafting Company (http://www.blackwaterrafting.co.nz) and checked in. My trip doesn't leave until 1:00, but it includes a free pass to the Museum of Caves, and wanted to get the pass and go this morning. Got my pass, then drove back to the DOC and walked through the museum. It's a display about the Waitomo region, why the caves form here, and about glowworms, etc. Quite interesting.

Then drove down the road to Aranui Cave (a pay-to-see cave) and did a short (30 min) walk to see the Ruakuri Natural Tunnel, an amazing limestone formation. An underwater river combines with an above ground river, and then flows into a HUGE cavern, heading back to the dark underground. Way cool!

Then drove back to the hostel, stopping at the Glowworm Cave parking lot (another pay-to-see cave) and did a short (10 min.) walk.

Back at the hostel, made lunch, had a bowel movement, so I wouldn't have to go in the cave in my wetsuit.

Left for the Black Water Rafting Company for my caving adventure. A bunch of teenagers from Stratford on a school trip, plus one of their teachers, are my group. 8 of us in total, plus two guides.

We got suited up in our bathing suit, then a thermal top, a very thick wet suit, booties, gloves, and a helmet with a lamp on it. Then into the van and taken to the upstream portion of the Ruakuri river cave system.

First, we got some lessons on abseiling, how to fast, slow, and stop. Then we started. They asked who wanted to go first, no one else volunteered, so I did. We abseiled straight down a vertical shaft, 35 metres in the darkness, before getting to the bottom. This was scary! I've never done anything like that before.

Once everyone got down, we climbed over some rocks, through a short tunnel, then "flew" down to the river on a flying fox. Cool! As we flew down the wire, we turned our lights off, to see the glowworms zip by on the ceiling.

Then we were served tea/coffee and a piece of cake, then we grabbed an inner tube and jumped into the icy cold water. We pulled ourselves upstream by a rope attached along the walls, then we "made a train", sticking our legs underneath the armpits of the person in front of us, then we floated downstream, with our lamps off, as one of the guides pulled us along, talking about glowworms. It was just like staring into the starry night sky, except the glowworms (which aren't worms at all, they're larvae of flying insects) are greenish in colour. Little specks of light littering the ceiling of the cave.

Then we ditched our tubes and walked, swam, floated, and at one point, waterslided (waterslid?) through the underground river. Many spots were tight squeezes and very low ceiling where we had to submerge our whole body (brrrr!) up to our chin, in the water, to get through.

We stopped at one point and were hand fed chocolate, as we stood knee deep in the 10 degree water, shivering!

And the best was yet to come!

We scrambled up a fast flowing stream running through a small chute, to a small cavern. We all squeezed into the cavern, waist deep in the water, as Lou, the female guide, explained that there were two ways out. One was the boring, easy way, the other was the fun, exciting way. Of course, we all chose the exciting way.

We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!!!!

The chute we were scrambling through was only wide enough for one person at a time, so we had to go up single file, and was often not tall enough to stand upright, plus, we couldn't see where we were stepping, because of the water. So, somewhat blindly, we scrambled single file up the chute, fast moving water swirling all around. I was 2nd from the last, and all we could see from the back end was that up ahead was a small pool of white-water, and the first few kept disappearing around the corner of the tight cavern, one at a time. I still remember the reaction of the guy in front of me, when he got close, and peered into the small pool/cavern. (BAD WORD ALERT!) He simply said, "Holy F*ck." I still couldn't see what he saw, but my adrenaline was running at an all time hight at this point. I finally got close enough, looked around the corner and saw a waterfall. An unbelievable torrent, smashing down from about 3 metres above, through a whole in the ceiling. And we had to climb up and through the waterfall. We sat shivering in the swirling pool, watching each one try to get secure hand and foot holds before moving another painfully slow step up. One guide, can't remember his name, waited at the bottom, the other, Lou, remained half way up the waterfall, helping each one place our feet and hands, as she precariously straddled her legs on the walls on either side of the waterfall. It was unbelieveable!!! When I got "on deck", noname guide pulled me over in the chest deep water, right in the splash/spray of the waterfall and yelled at me (had to yell, the waterfall noise was incredibly loud) to watch what's happening, so I'd know where to place my feet. That was all fine and dandy, if only I could see anything! The spray from the waterfall was blinding. Next up was me, and I climbed into the waterfall and started my ascent, using the foot and hand holds recommended by noname guide. When I got up to Lou, I remarked to her that this is one of those things that I just can't believe I'm doing! AFter getting up to Lou, she guided me the rest of the way, slowly, as I faced the momentum of the falling water. I crawled through a small rock spot, where the rest of the group sat waiting in the waist deep water, the look of horror in their eyes! It was quite a sight!!! You could tell they were terrified. And freezing cold too. No one said anything, except me, I exclaimed how amazing it was! They didn't laugh or agree. Lou came along and ushers us forward, further up the tiny river conduit, where we finally see daylight!!! But, to climb out, we have to climb another waterfall!

We made it out fine, but freezing. I was actually not too bad, after a while the wetsuit started to perform, warming my body slightly.

THIS WAS BY FAR THE BEST, MOST EXCITING, MOST EXHILERATING AND DANGEROUS THING I'VE DONE IN NEW ZEALAND!!! This was dangerous, in my opinion. Bungy jumping and white water kayaking are safe, compared to what could happen here. One misstep while walking along the riverbed (which was very uneven) could mean a smashed face or broken arm or leg, or a slip while climbing up the waterfalls could have a serious detrimental affect on your health and well being! And, you're stuck in a vast cavern if you need medical attention! I felt safe and sound bungy jumping and kayaking. I didn't feel that here, I was truly scared doing this! But it was worth it, it was amazing!

I think we spent about 2.5 or 3 hours underground. We got back to the office about 5:00, undressed, had a not-hot shower, then soup and bagels (all included in the price).

What I would have given to had had a camera in there. Trying to describe what we did just doesn't do it justice. Words cannot explain it.

While I was away, the Kiwi Experience bus pulled up to my hostel. I've got roommates tonight! Got back to the hostel about 5:30, used internet, wrote in journal, made supper, then figured out my plan for tomorrow, then to bed.