Exploring Above and Below New Zealand
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007The last week has been a week of extremes in exploration. I began with a look at the subterranean world below New Zealand in the Waitomo caves with a company called Rap, Raft, and Rock. Five other people and I were taken out to a farmer’s field on a misty Saturday morning. We were given wet suits which when put on are tight enough to send someone with body image issues running away screaming. We were then shuttled to what was literally a crack in the ground located in a sheep field. One by one we we abseiled (repelled) into the nearly 90 foot deep crack. This was the first time I had repelled since college. This repelling experience was very different as I wasn’t bouncing down a wall. I was actually dangling in midair, suspended by a rope, as I slowly let myself down to the bottom. At the bottom of the crack was a small cold river in which we would spend the next three hours wading and exploring. It was damp in the hole with the many sunlit cave walls covered with a green moss. We were given innertubes and waded up river out of the light (we had headlamps) to the point where the river plunged under the cave wall blocking any further egress. We were instructed to extinguish the head lamps and place one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us. We began walking back toward the crack. [read on]
cjun