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...