Sunday, December 4, 2011

Waipu Caves > Canyon Creek Ice Caves

Today it was raining, so we decided to check out Waipu Caves! It doesn't matter if it's raining if you are in a cave, despite the guide books telling us not to go during the rain (could fill with water, I suppose, but totally didn't!) :)

There are lots of glow-worm caves in NZ, the most famous being Waitomo Caves. Waipu Caves are less touristy though, completely undeveloped, so you can just show up and explore them on your own for free. All it cost us was the price of a couple head lamps (needed to buy those anyways - I'm sad I forgot my good one at home).

I'm a super fan of caves and often head out to the Canyon Creek Ice Caves near Bragg Creek back home, and a few years back my awesome team at Pason did a guided cave adventure to Rat's Nest Cave, so I was pretty excited about this cave, but expecting something like Canyon Creek. What I found was so much more fun and awesome! Definitely one of my favouritest things we've done here. About 375m of cave is accessible, and I think you can even get through to the other side but I need a partner who doesn't mind squeezing through some tight places. Also, I was worried thinking about the earthquake down in Wellington. Though really we're quite a ways away from it, it eats at your brain ya know? :)

Anyways, superfun time! Superfun pictures!

No caving experience is complete without a pre-adventure sushi lunch! (Unless you're me -Scott)
The "parking lot"
On our way to the caves! Dexter came too!
Off to the caves! We thought it might be a long walk but the entrance was just through these trees.  
Waipu Cave entrance
Stalactites
It sure is dark in here... 
The glowworms look so cool! Pictures can not really capture it. Next time I'll bring the good camera.
A bit of a squeeze.
Dexter looks on. He couldn't really go past this point.
Jacqui waiting with Dexter while I looked onwards.
Coming back to take Dexter back to the car.
Greg's tallness was his greatest strength and his greatest weakness when he hit his head.
Lovin' it.
Wow, I look like one of the monsters from The Descent. Eep.
These caves are awesome! Our pupils are huge!
There's a glow-worm! (They're actually fly larvae)
Stringy!
Eep, spiders found us! Gross. At least they're safe here.
Fun fun, glowy fun!
Blinded by the light!
↓ Not actually written by Jacqui. She just added the pictures. Don't know how to tell Blogger to "stfu, I did it."

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