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19.12.09 Waitomo Caves- King Country
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'tumu tumu toobing'+(Custom).JPG)
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Waikato region is called King Country because a Maori king ruled here during the 1850s. He was chosen to rule from the five tribes of the area because they needed to unite against the colonists who were trying to buy up their fertile land. It's beautiful rolling countryside, not at all unlike Fife, the other Kingdom! The main attraction of the area are the Waitomo underground caves. There are over 1000 of them in the area and only 300 have been mapped, of which 30 are used for taking tour parties into. We look at all the adventure tour options including black water rafting and extreme caving (clambering up waterfalls and the like) and settle on a combo of 'Tumu Tumu Toobing' (2 1/2 hour underground tubing down river, swimming and climbing) followed by the 'Lost World' (2 hour hike underground through the Manapuru Cave with an initial abseil descent of 100m). The Tumu Tumu Toobing is going to be a wet trip so we're given full wetsuits and gumboots over the top. We're driven out through the rolling green countryside to the cave entrance, which is just a small hole in the surface of the land, with a few rocks and palms. We climb down a short ladder and switch our helmet lamps on because we're immediately in the dark. Dion explains to us these caves were formed from limestone deposits (millions of years old shells and other sea matter) through which water penetrated, because the rock's quite soft and eventually created sink holes to the caverns underneath. Our cave is very tight with a small stream flowing through which leads to a bigger one further on. We gingerly clamber through over rocks and through pools, some much deeper than others, being careful not to touch the stalactites (it takes on average 100 years to form a centimetre). They're created by the droplets of water coming through the cave's ceiling and, in this cave, they're a caramel/ brown colour because the water's passed through earth above. We're not very far underground, only 7 metres or so. Glowworms are one of the main draws for visitors to these caves. They are in fact maggots, not worms, and they produce the bioluminesence reaction in their poo! They have shiny poo- and that's what you can see. We're asked to turn off our helmet lamps to appreciate the glowworms and we traipse conga style (hands on the person in front's shoulders) through the glowworm cave. It's very pretty, just like looking at the night sky full of stars. We pick up our tubes (big rubber rings) and get towed along in the dark through Aria Cave, it's supposed to have a good resonance for singing and has many more glowworms so it's a very mystical experience, being towed along in the dark. Then we have to do a bit of swimming in the freezing cold waters to get through the deep pools and a paddle frontways on our tubes again to reach the other end. Quite an exerting experience and quite hairy at times especially having to fit through tight passages in the rock and being careful not to twist your ankle or worse on the jagged rocks! We have a short break for lunch then we join the Lost World tour in the afternoon. The abseil comes first so we have to have a harness and ropes with carabinas attached for clipping on to the safety rope when we're descending and also when we're climbing along steep edges. It's a dry trek so we just wear overalls and gumboots, no wetsuits needed. We're shown a 60 metre drop in a nearby cave as a taster for the real one and asked if everyone's still okay with it. It looks a long way down but I know we'll be attached to ropes, safety ropes and the guide so we shouldn't be going anywhere. We're given a quick lesson in how to move the rope through our hand to increase or decrease our speed, with the emergency break being our leg twisted round the rope, then asked to sit out on the bar with nothing below our feet, only the rope holding us, suspended above 100metres of nothing. This was the scariest bit for me and Greg didn't look too comfortable either, at least to start with. +(Custom).JPG)
When we were told to start moving down, we relaxed a little although I still wasn't prepared to look down too much, as I might get freaked out. It took us about 10 minutes to get down to the bottom of the cave, speeding up as we got closer to the ground. Looking back up to the platform, it was a very long way! The shaft of light from the blue sky above made it very picturesque in the cave with mists rising from the river below. We climbed in the vast mouth of the cave, looking at 30 million year old ammonite fossils embedded in the rocks and huge curtains of stalactites. We had to climb a horrible 30 metre cold metal ladder in the dark, which I took ages at because my hands were hurting with the freezing rungs and it was tough going. And then it was a short clamber and we were out into daylight again.
+(Custom).JPG)
'tumu tumu toobing'+(Custom).JPG)
Waikato region is called King Country because a Maori king ruled here during the 1850s. He was chosen to rule from the five tribes of the area because they needed to unite against the colonists who were trying to buy up their fertile land. It's beautiful rolling countryside, not at all unlike Fife, the other Kingdom! The main attraction of the area are the Waitomo underground caves. There are over 1000 of them in the area and only 300 have been mapped, of which 30 are used for taking tour parties into. We look at all the adventure tour options including black water rafting and extreme caving (clambering up waterfalls and the like) and settle on a combo of 'Tumu Tumu Toobing' (2 1/2 hour underground tubing down river, swimming and climbing) followed by the 'Lost World' (2 hour hike underground through the Manapuru Cave with an initial abseil descent of 100m). The Tumu Tumu Toobing is going to be a wet trip so we're given full wetsuits and gumboots over the top. We're driven out through the rolling green countryside to the cave entrance, which is just a small hole in the surface of the land, with a few rocks and palms. We climb down a short ladder and switch our helmet lamps on because we're immediately in the dark. Dion explains to us these caves were formed from limestone deposits (millions of years old shells and other sea matter) through which water penetrated, because the rock's quite soft and eventually created sink holes to the caverns underneath. Our cave is very tight with a small stream flowing through which leads to a bigger one further on. We gingerly clamber through over rocks and through pools, some much deeper than others, being careful not to touch the stalactites (it takes on average 100 years to form a centimetre). They're created by the droplets of water coming through the cave's ceiling and, in this cave, they're a caramel/ brown colour because the water's passed through earth above. We're not very far underground, only 7 metres or so. Glowworms are one of the main draws for visitors to these caves. They are in fact maggots, not worms, and they produce the bioluminesence reaction in their poo! They have shiny poo- and that's what you can see. We're asked to turn off our helmet lamps to appreciate the glowworms and we traipse conga style (hands on the person in front's shoulders) through the glowworm cave. It's very pretty, just like looking at the night sky full of stars. We pick up our tubes (big rubber rings) and get towed along in the dark through Aria Cave, it's supposed to have a good resonance for singing and has many more glowworms so it's a very mystical experience, being towed along in the dark. Then we have to do a bit of swimming in the freezing cold waters to get through the deep pools and a paddle frontways on our tubes again to reach the other end. Quite an exerting experience and quite hairy at times especially having to fit through tight passages in the rock and being careful not to twist your ankle or worse on the jagged rocks! We have a short break for lunch then we join the Lost World tour in the afternoon. The abseil comes first so we have to have a harness and ropes with carabinas attached for clipping on to the safety rope when we're descending and also when we're climbing along steep edges. It's a dry trek so we just wear overalls and gumboots, no wetsuits needed. We're shown a 60 metre drop in a nearby cave as a taster for the real one and asked if everyone's still okay with it. It looks a long way down but I know we'll be attached to ropes, safety ropes and the guide so we shouldn't be going anywhere. We're given a quick lesson in how to move the rope through our hand to increase or decrease our speed, with the emergency break being our leg twisted round the rope, then asked to sit out on the bar with nothing below our feet, only the rope holding us, suspended above 100metres of nothing. This was the scariest bit for me and Greg didn't look too comfortable either, at least to start with. 
