New Zealand - Waitomo Caves
Waitomo
Caves
Day 11 - December 22nd 2008
Chris & I signed up for the “Lost World 7 hour Epic Tour” with the Waitomo Adventures outfitter at Waitomo Caves and it was amazing! Here’s the website for Waitomo Adventures, there’s video and more photos to check out too! http://www.waitomo.co.nz/
Thanks to friends of ours (Don, Lisa & family!!) we’ve been exposed to lots of different caves over the past year, and we were hoping this would be as cool as what we’ve seen so far in the states. We were pleasantly surprised that it surpassed our expectations in both beauty and sheer scale! The pictures just don’t do it justice, you really had to be there to get the size perspective.
Lost World entrance - the 100 meter drop
Starting our descent..
That tiny stream down there is actually a raging river!
We passed ferns and moss and jagged rocks as we dropped down and it was truly AMAZING...
Dropping 328 feet down!
That took over 10 minutes for us to descend on rope. I will admit, we took our time because it was so beautiful!
At the bottom of the Lost World entrance
cool shadow shot ;)
We climbed up, over, under and through all kinds of formations AND waterfalls!
the fern filled cave exit
Overall this was a very thrilling experience and I highly recommend it for the ultimate caving experience! We swam through the majority of the cave and we did a lot of free climbing on rocks. Certain sections of the cave they had set up for cliff jumping, so we would jump into the darkness and after a few seconds passed, plunge into the dark cave waters! I experienced an endless adrenaline rush from all of the activity and from mom’s voice in my head that would remind me “I can’t believe you are doing this - BE CAREFUL, DON’T SPRAIN AN ANKLE!!”
The last segment hiking out of the cave, we entered the Glow Worm Grotto and it was truly amazing. Glow worms were everywhere, so much so that we turned off our head lamps and sat there for 15 minutes taking it all in. The room was gently lit up with blue hues all around us. Glow worms are cool :D
The most difficult part of the trip was the hike OUT of the cave. After we reached the other side, we had to hike up hill through sheep farm land in our wet suits and water filled boots and it was STEEP. It felt like I was a good 20 lbs heavier because of the gear we had on so it was a bit torturous!
After that steep hike we were rewarded with a very yummy Kiwi BBQ of steak, sausages & veggies! mmmm!!
our caving group! cheers!
Woohoo!
Jenn
Day 11 - December 22nd 2008
Chris & I signed up for the “Lost World 7 hour Epic Tour” with the Waitomo Adventures outfitter at Waitomo Caves and it was amazing! Here’s the website for Waitomo Adventures, there’s video and more photos to check out too! http://www.waitomo.co.nz/
Thanks to friends of ours (Don, Lisa & family!!) we’ve been exposed to lots of different caves over the past year, and we were hoping this would be as cool as what we’ve seen so far in the states. We were pleasantly surprised that it surpassed our expectations in both beauty and sheer scale! The pictures just don’t do it justice, you really had to be there to get the size perspective.
Lost World entrance - the 100 meter drop
Starting our descent..
That tiny stream down there is actually a raging river!
We passed ferns and moss and jagged rocks as we dropped down and it was truly AMAZING...
Dropping 328 feet down!
That took over 10 minutes for us to descend on rope. I will admit, we took our time because it was so beautiful!
At the bottom of the Lost World entrance
cool shadow shot ;)
We climbed up, over, under and through all kinds of formations AND waterfalls!
the fern filled cave exit
Overall this was a very thrilling experience and I highly recommend it for the ultimate caving experience! We swam through the majority of the cave and we did a lot of free climbing on rocks. Certain sections of the cave they had set up for cliff jumping, so we would jump into the darkness and after a few seconds passed, plunge into the dark cave waters! I experienced an endless adrenaline rush from all of the activity and from mom’s voice in my head that would remind me “I can’t believe you are doing this - BE CAREFUL, DON’T SPRAIN AN ANKLE!!”
The last segment hiking out of the cave, we entered the Glow Worm Grotto and it was truly amazing. Glow worms were everywhere, so much so that we turned off our head lamps and sat there for 15 minutes taking it all in. The room was gently lit up with blue hues all around us. Glow worms are cool :D
The most difficult part of the trip was the hike OUT of the cave. After we reached the other side, we had to hike up hill through sheep farm land in our wet suits and water filled boots and it was STEEP. It felt like I was a good 20 lbs heavier because of the gear we had on so it was a bit torturous!
After that steep hike we were rewarded with a very yummy Kiwi BBQ of steak, sausages & veggies! mmmm!!
our caving group! cheers!
Woohoo!
Jenn