January 4th
What a day...brilliant, challenging, tiring (walked nearly 9 miles) and in every way up there with the best of our trips so far.
9 am out on the road with the hire car and waiting for Cliff to turn up. When he arrived it was with two other passengers and a third to be picked up further along the road. We followed closely, that gravel road was not for the faint hearted, lots of ruts, potholes and very narrow places and certainly not for anything other than a 4-wheel drive!
Met another herd of cows being taken across the road to milking. A cone barred the way but this time the farmer got in-between the herd, waved one lot across and the other to hold fast. The cone was removed and onwards we went. Next hurdle was the lorry. Turned off the road onto the track and was confronted by a huge wagon loading stock. 4-wheel drive came in useful here, what Cliff did so did we.
And so onto the gravel. At first, it was okay, but it soon got very narrow and those ridges threw us around even at very low speed. Gosh and to think we had debated whether to take the Toy up it. Thank goodness the lady at the i site dissuaded us!
14 km later we made it to the first stop. Loo break and to drop off one of the passengers who had not booked the cave, just the arches walks. A further 2 km to go before we reached Oparara Basin.
Cliff is a great guide. Very knowledgeable about the surrounding trees and plants in the Kahurangi Rainforest, there were three rules he wanted us to remember. (1) if you see a bird 50-50 chance it's a Robin, (2) all native bushes had a 50-50 chance of being a coffee plant, from the broadest of leaves to the smallest, and rule (3) if you see a bird running around the rainforest floor in daylight, it's not a Kiwi!
The hike to the cave mouth took about an hour, only 2 km to do but stopping to tell us all about the rainforest took the time.
And another swing bridge to do. This one more like the ones we like to go over. Thin steel walkway, sways and bounces... a lot ....and nothing to stop you from seeing the river beneath. Just one at a time allowed over that bridge, he did encourage us to take photos which of course ate into the hour.
At the start of the cave mouth, tree roots and moss hung down. One looked into a deep dark hole. We were about to enter a natural cave, no walkways or handrails other than that right at the beginning. A rope had been placed, not to grab hold of to steady oneself, but to keep us from falling into crevasses. Needless to say none of us made a grab for that rope.
This was an amazing experience, times when I needed the help from Ian as the floor was very uneven. Steps a plenty but not of the man made kind, one needed to find ways around and some of the boulders we had to scramble over...well thank goodness for the lady behind me giving me a push and Ian heaving from above. Small cracks to get through, slippery surfaces and complete darkness other than that of your head torch made this tour very memorable. Would I recommend it? Most definitely but a certain amount of flexibility and fitness was required. I just about passed on that score. So now to the photos,
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| Moa, Kiwi and Deer bones all found in the cave. |
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| As was small Robins and Tom Tits that had found their way in but couldn't get out. The bottom centre and right was of an almost extinct bird called the Kakapo. Only 252 birds are left in some remote islands today. |
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| Glow worms |
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| A shaft of sunlight through a small hole in the rock. Photo by Ian. |
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| Plenty of ancient Powelliphanta snail shell found doted about the cave. Still alive today they are one of the most endangered of New Zealand invertebrates. They are carnivores. They particularly like earthworms, and suck them up through their mouth just like we eat spaghetti. The Powelliphanta snails found today are the culmination of million years of evolution on New Zealand’s isolated landmass, developing a set of peculiar characteristics that is totally unique in the world. |
Over an hour was spent underground, mostly with the headlight but occasionally just with a red light, especially on the walk to the glow worm area. One certainly had to watch where you were going then!
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| A Potato Orchid seen on the walk back to the car. |
This wasn't the end of the day. Coffee and cake awaited us on our return, all included in the price.
Cliff left us to pick up his other passenger, we stayed to do the Arch walks. Ever the glutton for punishment the Moria Gate and Mirror Tarn track looked doable. A loop of 4.1 km taking roughly 90 minutes. But you don't want to hear about that today. Tomorrow's post will carry on where I left off, plenty to say and plenty of photos still to come, I think today is as much as I can do because I took a total of 668 photos yesterday, and they all have to be sorted. And Ian wonders what I do with my time on the computor. Well now he knows!
Some wildlife today
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| Umbrella Moss |
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| New Zealand Wood Pigeon |
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| Swallow |
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| New Zealand Robin |
1 comment:
Good on you, that was rather an exhilarating day!
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