NZ Adventures #7: The Endicotts Go Underground

Earth Date:  Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Today we are going underground...as in Underworld Adventures Glow Worm Cave tour.

Glow Worm Cave Tour

Another early morning for a 9:00am tour departure.  We debated on an adventure tour where you climb, rappel, raft and all that jazz.  We settled for the more sedate cave exploration tour where you didn't need to don a wet suit.  Mostly because of the need to "don a wet suit" that a thousand other tourists have also donned.  Germs, you know.  But also because we're fat.

The 30-minute drive up the coast from Punakaiki to Charleston was lovely.   The highway runs perpendicular to the Paparoa National Park of thick coastal, tropical forest bordering narrow stretches of beach, scrub or rocky overhangs.  To the Māori, this area was once known as the "spring of food" due to the abundance of vegetation and forest you see around you.  Limestone cliffs jet up from the forest, dotted with ferns and palms.  This area of the West Coast sits on a single band of Oligocene limestone about 50m thick.  Huh.  It's capped with hills towards the north, bisected by the Pororari River and then descends towards sea level near the Pancake Rock area, thus the amazing limestone formations and caves.

We descended into one such cave system, called the Metro Caves, or Te Ananui Caves.  It was formed by erosion from Ananui Creek, a tributary of the Waitakere (Nile) River.  A cool thing about this cave set?  It was once ocean floor, so it's full of fossils and weathers very beautifully.  But first, the ride to the cave entrance...

After the safety briefing and receiving assigned hardhat, our tour group loaded up in a van that hadn't ever been cleaned.  I'm not being facetious.  There were spider web networks in each cranny, and I'm pretty sure we noted a spider convention in the works.  But the trip is short and we hop out to discover our two young tour guides maneuvering a wee steam train out of a metal shipping container.

The train ride itself is great, running through beautiful primeval rain forest of the Nile River Canyon.  Apparently a 2001 BBC program, The Lost World, was filmed in the area.  Well, that's cool.  It does look like exotic, untamed forest amidst grey streaked bluffs.

Oh look, more sheep!  In fact, there were sheep camped out on the rail lines that refused to make way.  Finally, they ambled aside, casting the train a gimlet eye.  I note that the sheep on the West Coast are not more cleanly that those on the North Island.  Nope.

Notably, along the West Coast, there was a gold rush in the 1860s, and pockets of mining communities formed and fell quickly into poverty when the gold didn't materialize.  Coal has taken the place of gold mining in the area, but doesn't require all of the resources that cropped up.  So there are a bunch of abandoned railway lines, mills and mining towns.  We didn't explore the deserted mining sites, but it was neat to see this short stretch of railway line re-purposed to carry adventurers, like us.

We arrive at Softrock Station and take a short walk from the "train station" (indeed, a mini train station platform) to the Nile River Suspension Bridge.

Don't know about you, but suspension bridges kinda weird me out.  We're all trekking across and it's swaying and creaking.  It's cables, y'all.  Cables connected to trees or something.  And when lots of people load up, it sways erratically to the varying footsteps.  Just saying, unnerving.

But, it's lovely and the Nile River is lovely.  And onward we trek to a tall staircase zigzagging up a cliff to get to the cave entrance.  The Metro cave system is under the protection of the DOC (New Zealand's Department of Conservation), and rightly so.  Underground Adventures is the only tour company with rights to the cave, with the exception of a few individual tour guides.  The caves have not been modified much at all, with the exception of a guide rope here and there.   It seemed like they keep the tours small, and we were lectured many times not to  touch things and advised along the trail where we could put our hands for balance and support.  The trails are sandy walkways between rock walls and large boulders.  We hiked up and down jumbles of boulders and hunched down to scoot under rocky overhangs and low ceilings.  People, in short, we adventured.  But let's not get too far ahead.
 

We ticked headlamps on and into the cave we went with 15 new friends.  There's a maw of darkness always just ahead of us.  The lights on our lamps were the only source of light.

The walls are white and there are stalactites and stalagmites in abundance.  The earth has been quietly at work here for some time.  Check out this artistry:

Pretty amazing, huh?  Weather, water and minerals have been at work here for the last 200,000 years.

In many places, stalagmite and stalactite cones formed by water and calcium drips, met in the middle to form delicate pillars.  In one room the formations on the ceiling were like fins or waves.  In others, straws of stalactites were just getting started.

Over 2 hours we traversed through three levels of the cave system.  There are 8km of cave to explore in this set, and we saw just a small portion.  It would be easy to get lost, though it sounded like there were several entrances.

The guide told us the tale of the cave's discovery.  Apparently a young guy discovered one of the cave entrances, but couldn't talk his buddies into venturing into exploring with him, so he took a couple of candles and his dog.  You could see the dog's paw prints in one portion of the caves.  Courageous and a bit foolhardy?  But I'm grateful for this sturdy fellow and his adventuring spirit.  That caves are magnificent.


The halfway point was the main Metro Cave entrance which is a magical, ivy draped opening featuring glittering pools.  There's a hole in the top of the cave entrance that's almost a perfect circle.  You could imagine the fall of water that would plummet into the pool the water has eroded below, also in almost a perfect circle.

This was one of my favorite sites along the tour because of the feeling of otherness and mystery, like a fairy grotto.  It's an entrance into a completely otherworldly place among the limestone formations.

A kea was spotted hopping about near the cave entrance, which was a delightful surprise for the tour guide.  Much ado was made of Mr or Ms Kea, and the unlikelihood of seeing one in this part of the country.  I missed exactly why.  The kea seemed not at all phased by the gawking tourists.  

I took the opportunity to rest for a few minutes while Jayme took pics.  Then we headed back the way we'd come, which looked like a different path altogether, just because of the perspective.  But first a stop to meet glowworms.  That's right friends, magic worms that glow in the dark.  

It's a starlight night in the middle of the day deep within the earth.  Or so it seems.  This milky way is actually a colony of larvae seeking dinner.

Arachnocampa luminosa is a fungus gnat found just in New Zealand.  Glowworm sounds much more glamorous.  These wee larvae produce a blue-green bioluminescence as they perch on their silk nests.  They create up to 30 strands of filmy silk threads complete with sticky droplets that hang near their nests.  They lure midges and other insects with their attractive glows and snap them up when they get caught in the threads.  All this effort for a lifespan of between 76 and 96 hours once they emerge from the pupa.  Live well fierce, little gnats!

15 minutes to admire the glow worms, then back towards the cave entrance through yet more fascinating cavescapes.

 At one point in the tour, I think when we were down into the third level of the cave, our tour guide had us all turn off our lamps.  Complete blackness -- a complete absence of light.  It's uncanny how quickly you lose your sense of direction and grounding. She mentioned that insanity can occur as soon as 15 minutes for some folks when they are in a complete absence of light.  Crazy.  Literally.

And we're back.  A quick walk to the train station, which apparently we were late for, as the other group had been waiting some time.  We had a couple of elderly ladies trekking with us.  One in particular had some trouble with the natural walkway.  Jayme and another kind gent helped her up and down and around.  She paused often for pictures and to capture a quick rest, and apparently touched more than she was supposed to.  So, we were late.  We didn't mind so much, but our fellow tourists in wet suits were cold and a tad grumpy.  No worries, folks, we're in NEW ZEALAND!

Cape Foulwind

It's been a superb morning!  And we've trekked up an appetite.  We head north a bit on Highway 6 for lunch at PR's cafe in Westport, then it's off to check out Cape Foulwind Lighthouse.

Westport is another quaint town.  It lies along the Buller River, almost as it empties into the coast.  There's not much to it, just like most of the other small towns, we've visited.  We find PR's cafe along the main drag, which is Palmerston Street, for our usual combo -- toastie for Jayme and salad for me, all with a side of fries.  Because fries in NZ are the best fries on the planet.  They are the same at every cafe and equally delicious.  Fry fanatics, it's a great excuse to go to NZ.

Cape Foulwind is a lighthouse set on a slight projection into the the Tasman Sea in Tauranga Bay.  We parked in the lot then trekked upwards a short way to the lighthouse with lovely views of the coast.

I'm wondering why "Cape Foulwind."  I see nothing foul in these views. Apparently a one Captain James Cook named this place Cape Foulwind in 1770, after a storm blew his ship out to sea from this point.  "Avast ye mateys, a mighty wind arose and set me lass, The Endeavour, on an unwelcome course to the sea.  Bah, it's a land of foul winds, fer certain!"  And that's how rumors, nicknames and the news got around, pre-social media, friends.  The trusty Abel Tasman first named the area "Rocky Cape" in 1642, because imagination was a strong trait in that one, and you can indeed pick out the rocks.  But who would forestall Captain Cook's grumpy name from settling in.  I bet there's a good tavern story there!

We couldn't miss a chance to meet the seals.  We drove down the bay a bit to stop at the fur Seal Colony overlook at Cape Foulwind.  

Amazing views and it's a might windy.  We hang out at the overlook for a few minutes to watch the seals vying for the best places in the sun or sliding in and out of the chilly water.  There weren't many in residence, as mating season is still a bit around the corner, but it was still neat to watch them slowly slinking about the lichen covered rocks.  And the one male getting grouchy with any of those that ventured too close.  Can you see this prim lady lazing about on the left?

Did you know that a female fur seal lives in the same colony all of her life?  Interesting.  The males show up in late November to hang out for a few months and mate with a harem of 7 to 16 ladies.  It's a busy time, folks.  Then, mid-January they are off again.

Pancake Rocks

We are off again, too!  This time for a break -- a cuppa and maybe a nap -- at the hotel.  Adventuring is hard work, y'all.  After a break, we head to the tiny, local hub in Punakaiki for dinner and to check out the pancake rocks.  Changing it up with pizza for dinner at Pancake Rocks Cafe.  A little joint on the highway right across from the Punakaiki Rocks, that specializes in...wait for it... pancakes.  See what they did thar?  Our goal is to keep them nimble and practicing their other menu items, so we order pizza.

After a pizza each, we need to walk.  We head across the highway (street, really) to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk at Dolomite Point.  We've timed it so we're close to sunset when the tides are coming in, for maximum blow hole effect.  The loop is quick and strategically placed to view all the cool places.  But the wind.  The wind is freezing.  And did Mr Endicott bring sufficient outerwear?  Nope.  Wanna borrow my scarf?  So we are breezing through this walk.  Plus, there are lots of pokey young ladies who are posing just so for the perfect selfie.  Really.  Annoying.

Back to pancakes.

They are rocks.  They are pancakes.  How does the Big Guy do this cool stuff?  Well, he planned ahead.  They were formed 30 million years ago from tiny fragments of dead marine creatures and plants in the seabed, ~2km below the surface.  It's called stylobedding, and it's neat.  Water pressure compressed these fragments into solid layers of limestone with mud-rich layers in between. Then seismic (VOLCANIC) activity lifted the layers above the sea.

Then take rain, seas spray and wind and you get a landscape of interesting limestone art.  Fabulous.  Big Guy, you did a good thing.

Blow holes are a mixture of compressed water and air pushing upwards through the caverns.  They are loud!  Whoosh!  And they have fun names, like The Chimney Pot and The Surge Pool.  I love this place.  I'm just amazed by the fantastic work the earth has made of this shoreline.  The combination of limestone layers, VOLCANIC activity and ocean action.  I am humbled and in love.

I'm not quite finished exploring for the evening, so we poke around the beach in front of the hotel.  I get a good look at the pancakes, and I'm fascinated.

And check out the powerful tide coming in:

Finally, night descends and we need to get some rest.  I'm tempted to nose our way into the retirement crowd (who we explored caves with that morning) sharing wine at the crackling bonfire on the beach, but politeness won over.  Plus, we are progressively tired from early mornings and going all day.  Our hotel sported two queen beds, so while I might have felt slightly guilty wanting to sleep in my own bed, I noted Jayme was out like a light. A little Pinterest, a little reading, and then lights out.

Today's Favorites:

• Jayme's:  kea bird at Metro Cave's main entrance and pizza
• Bonnie's:  pancake rocks and glowworms

Tomorrow we are superheroes... ascending from the tropical coastline to a glacier.  In just one day.  Stay tuned...

NZ Adventures #6: Abel Tasman Love

Earth Date:  Monday, November 19, 2018

Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman is gorgeous.  Stunning.  Magnificent.  Enchanting.  The end.

It's just like the Blue Lagoon.  Well, except for this:

Nah, just kidding.  We were really like this (just like Brooke Shields and Chris Atkins. Isn't the resemblance uncanny?  No need to answer that):

Because Abel Tasman is so great.  By far, one of my most favoritest places (#becausegrammarmatters) we'd discovered in NZ as of day 6.  Hey!  We're still in NEW ZEALAND!

We'd decided to catch an AquaTaxi at Marahua headed to Anchorage Beach for the Pitt's Head Walk. 

It was an early morning to be at Abel Tasman Aquataxi a bit early for a 10:30am departure, and we had an hour drive along The Coastal Highway, which offered lovely views.  There's just not a lot in the way of habitation or commerce along The Coastal Highway... just lovely scenery.  Then, all the sudden we were in Marahau and found AquaTaxi central. 

I'd never heard of such a thing.  I mean, there were no aquataxis when we visited Galveston as kids.  Huh.  

Basically, they put you in a boat loaded on a trailer with about 16 other people.  They pull the boat to the shoreline with a farm tractor and back it up into the water.  You putter along Tasman Bay taking in the loveliness.  Then they back up to the shore of your destination beach, and you jump in and wade through to the beach.  It's fun!

This particular route offered views of the spectacular shoreline down to Split Apple rock, round Adele Island where seals like to gather for socializing, mating and whatnot, and finally to Anchorage Beach.










Split Apple Rock looks much like an... wait for it... apple that's been split in two.  Neat huh?  I prefer cleaved in twain.  Cleaved in Twain Rock.

It's naturally formed granite, dating back about 120 million years.  In Māori, it's Tokangawhā, meaning "burst open rock."  That's neat, too. It would be even more neat if the legends were true that two gods were fighting over the rock and split it in two to share it.  It's more likely that water seeped into a 'joint' in the granite during an ice age, froze, expanded and split that puppy in two.  It's just so perfectly split.  Amazeballs.




Cruising on around Adele Island...

If you look really close, you can see a couple of seals lounging among the rocks.  Tramping around the island is discouraged to keep it safe for the seal breeding colonies.  Privacy, people.

Then we were zooming to Anchorage Beach.  The breeze on the ocean was cool, the sea spray zipping by, while the sun shone warm on our heads.  It was wonderful.  When we arrived, it was shoes and socks off to wade to the beach.

After a foot rinse and dry (with the handy, dandy travel towel I so cleverly packed for just such an occasion) at the Anchorage Hut trek stop, we set off to walk the Pitt's Loop Lookout.

We trekked upwards through manuka forest, which consists of both short scrubby shrubs and tall trees, to an overlook of Te Pukatea Bay.











Plus ferns.  Ferns everywhere -- large and small.  As you can see it's gorgeous.  Overall, it took about 1.5 hours, even for a pokey person like me.

Abel Tasman National Park was named for the first European who visited Aotearoa (or New Zealand), a Dutch gent named... wait for it... Abel Tasman.  He moored a couple of ships in the area in 1642, was ganked by the resident Ngati Tumatakokiri people, and thus sailed along.  Europeans came back around 1855 to settle in, logged the forest and fired the underbrush until the easy pickings were gone and then left.  Seriously.

It became a national park in 1942 to preserve it from logging interests.

This is looking down to Te Pukatea Bay.  Golden, sandy curve of beach + aqua waters.  Like a dream.

We ambled down to the bay for a snack on the beach and more spectacular snaps.

Folks where bringing in kayaks and prepping camps for the day.  Others were using a drone to take pictures.

We spotted a big, black storm behind us, threatening to move our way.  But we lucked out.  It was fun watching it roll slowly across the sky.

Time to head back. And along the way, what should we encounter but the opportunity to practice our (Jayme's) mad lumberjack skillz.  Well, that's an opportunity one should not miss.























And success!  Check to the goal of chopping wood in New Zealnad

Oh hello, Māori man.  I have no idea what his story is.

We're back at Anchorage Beach with an hour to spare.  After talking for a bit with one of the "taxi drivers," he points us west to check out the beach caves.  BEACH CAVES!  How did I miss those when we arrived?!

But first, shell shopping and a selfie.

Come on, it's just so cool.  Water has carved out arches in the rock into natural sculptures covered with shrubby hairdos.

The rocks in this area are formed of limestone and granite, making for interesting formations over time.

You could get lost in here!  Not really -- they were fairly shallow caves.  But I wouldn't want to be caught here on high tide.

Check out the neat shells that attach to the rocks.  They covered most of the rocks rising from the sand.  Both neat and creepy.  Like, I didn't want to touch them creepy.

It's about 2:00pm and time to head back towards the aqua pick-up <-- see what I did there?

That thunderstorm is inching ever closer, so we're grateful to wade into the taxi to make our way back to Marahua.  It's along this route that we learn about the backpackers, as we're sitting in front of a row of youngsters trekking and adventuring their way across the island.  Backpackers account for 11% of New Zealand's holiday arrivals and visitor spend.  That's about 159,000+ visitors annually, and they range between the ages of 18 - 24.  I would have thought there were more than that based on the numbers of them we encountered and the hostels we noted.  I guess small groups seem like a horde when there aren't many folks present in general.

It's neat to hear them meeting each other and making plans.  Most were European, though we did encounter a few Canadians who just graduated from college.  The aquataxi even made a stop at a hostel of sorts on a boat, just hanging out in the bay.  Really, pretty cool -- if you're 20 and in shape.  We are most assuredly neither.  Nope, I'm looking forward to the luxurious cabin we sprung for that night... which is another story... lest you be getting bored.

Punakaiki

Once we're settled back into our trusty Toyota, we head out towards Punakaiki on the West Coast.  We drive through rolling hills, then farming and orchard communities on our way to the Motueka Valley Highway, which follows the Motueka River.  To the left are the foothills of Kahurangi National Park.  To the right, farming communities fill the valley.  We weave through forest and pasture and low mountains.  It's verdant and fresh.  We meet up with State Highway 6 for more of the same.

I'd like to point out that "highway" is a preeeeettty magnanimous term for the roads around most of New Zealand. and especially in South Island.  They are two lane and sometimes, they have one side closed while they fill holes with loose rocks.  Yes Friends, loose rocks.  It's road repair, and it seemed they started about 9am sharp.  Got organized for an hour or so, worked for a bit, then lunch break at noon.  It's soon break at two-sies, and then bam, 4pm folks.  Let's call it a day.  /whew.  I jest, but I don't think I'm too far off in my estimation of work productivity (#sillyAmericanswhoworkallthetime).  Anywho, it's a 4 hour drive to the West Coast, so we get going, though we're not too worried, since it stays light until 9pm -- plenty of time to do and see!

About 3/4 of the way to Punakaiki, we stop at Kilkenny Lookout for a stretch break.  "Highway."  Pfft.  It's a wee span of asphalt bordered by a white picket-ish fence.  Good thing:  there's not many of us on it and it's beautiful everywhere.  So, sarcasm aside -- we love it!

We were going to stop and check out the tourist-expensive Buller Gorge Swing Bridge, but it was 5:00pm, and there's work-life balance in NZ, yo.  So sorry.  It's ok, we still have a couple of hours to go and by the time we hit the coast, Jayme is justifiably tired of driving and the road is wind-y.  And I mean, hang on, 'cuz you're gonna lean out of your seat, I'mtiredit'stimeforustoarrive wind-y.

But it's worth it...

It's love at first site with the West Coast for me.  I would live here... in fact.... [pause for Zillow download].

Come on, let's go!  We are both getting testy and tired.  We're staying in Punakaiki.  It's a literal blip on the map, and the turn in for our cottage reservation a smaller blip.  But success!  It's 8pm and we are grateful for a chance to relax.  But one problem... Ms. Hotel Owner has us down for December 19 & 20, rather than November 19 & 20, and there are no rooms available.  Right.  Wait, what?   I'm dreading the last minute search for a place to sleep, but Ms. Hotel Owner is on it and has us booked in a jiff at the Punakaiki Resort where all the retirees are staying on their bus trip.  You know what, it's all good.  We have beds, a tea maker and bathroom.  We are good.  It's kinda cute, too.  We have to trek to our room, which strangely opens right on the highway.  Our sliding glass door, a stream, some foliage, then the highway.  Yup, sliding glass door on the highway.  NZ is an interesting, interesting place.  The Punakaiki Resort is a 4-star (not really) kinda place.  It's a souped up motel.  But who cares!  It's clean and has beds.  And what's on the other side of the highway?  The beach! The lovely, lovely West Coast beach.  And we're like a 5-minute walk from the pancake rocks, which we'll see tomorrow!  

Just before we settle down to rest, I emailed Ms. Hotel Owner to share our appreciation for getting us settled, and the email she returns is trying to adjust blame.  Yeah, I don't think so.  Lady, just go with it.  We were nice about it, and made no fuss.  Don't know why that bugged me.  

More importantly, tonight we need fortification, and we find it at the one open restaurant in this blip, Punakaiki Tavern.  In burgers, we rejoice.  Go beets!  And they were pretty tasty.  Then we need sleep.  Tomorrow, People, we go underground.