Continuing on from Pancake Rocks we cruise down to another one of Kylie’s must see destinations.
Hokitika Gorge.
She had been raving about how mach she loves this place and the amazing colours that pop out and despite the overcast day it did not disappoint.
Another easy tourist walk it is well worth a visit.
From here we headed back into Hokitika for diner at Sunset Point and more glowworms
New Zealand is a mountain bike and canyoning Mecca so it might come as a surprise that
Kylie and I had been talking about a New Zealand winter road trip for a while and when the stars aligned where we both had time and opportunity we leapt at it.
We had 10 days to smash out a road trip where we’d nerd out on geology and climate, this meant some of the more well known spots got dropped off.
We also wanted to do it on the cheap so if you want to know where we went and what we saw stay tuned, I’ve got about 2000 photos yet to edit and cull so I’ll post them as I go in a little series over the coming days or weeks or whatever.
Anyhoo we flew into Christchurch at some ungodly hour and got a ride to North South Holiday Park where we had arranged a late check in. It was about 1am when we pick up the keys from the key safe and make our way over to the cabin.
Um didn’t we get a double? asked I as I open the door.
Yes says Kylie.
I’d walked into the wrong cabin…. Opsie
Finding the right cabin we settle in. We’d picked a basic cabin, it was basically just big enough for the bed, a bar fridge and a counter top. But considering we just needed somewhere to sleep for a few hours it was perfect. and surprisingly comfy.
And for $54NZD, which included a courtesy bus into town the next day, we couldn’t go wrong.
Next morning we get dropped off at Tui Campers. One of the reasons for flying into Christchurch was the amazing deals Tui do on their camper vans.
And all set up in a Ford Transit van we hit the road for the West Coast via the Lewis Pass. Destination Cape Foulwind, where we’d camp the night in a cosy little Freedom Camp.
Freedom camping in NZ has gone through a little change recently and now to do it legally in most places you need a certified self contained camper. Thus the Transit camper.
Now on the west coast it was time to take in the sights and sounds.
Our first stop was Charlestown for a river rafting tour with Underworld Adventures. Kylie had done this one before and raved about it as a must do.
Look, my home town of Lithgow famously boasts the Glowworm tunnels and the canyons and caves of the Blue Mountains host them by the thousands but this tour was something else.
After suiting up the trip started with trip on a funky little petrol engined train.
Toot toot!!!
All Photos from the cave are ©Kylie unless stated otherwise as the second half activities meant I didn’t take my camera.
At the end of the train line we pick up our tractor tubes and walk up through the rain forest to the start of the Metro Cave.
The cave is quite extensive and we explore passageways and crawl-throughs before making our way down to the next level
The second level is where we find the first of the glowworm displays. The following photos are promos from Underworld Adventures. Click to Enbiggen.
The Glowworms here are Arachnocampa Luminosa close cousins to the ones in the Blue Mountains, Arachnoocampa Richardsae. Arachno means spider like, due to the silky stands they use to catch pray. Campa refers to them setting up a little hammock and wait for food to come to them. Luminosa refers to the fact they are Harry Potter Fans.
Next we descend to the 3 level which is where we find the river and mount our tubes.
Due to needing to paddle and hold on and stuff we couldn’t really get any photos of this section, let me just say it is mind blowing. You alternate from easy floating under a cavern of glowworms to quicker sections where it’s important to avoid being pushed into the undercuts.
It was hella fun
And then we reach the end of the cave.
But the fun isn’t over. We head out to where the Ananui creek meets the mighty Nile River, Waitakere. From here it’s hold on tight for a fun ride down some mild rapids back to the train.
Would recommend this to anyone, it’s a great trip. The cave system is quite extensive so there are drier options but even midwinter the thick wetsuits hold off the worst of the cold.
Continued on (and I’ll try to be less wordy and more photoey)
14-06-21
Gadget, Penny, Chief Quimby, Professor Von Slickstein and Me… I mean, Dr Claw
Whatya doing on the Monday of the long weekend? Asks Gadget
No plans. What do you have in mind? Says I
Options were thrown up before settling on a Go Go Gadget excursion back to Wolgan falls.
We’ve been talking about getting back there to do a wet line after rain. It almost happened after the March deluge but we wimped out fearing the road maybe impassable.
And the stars just haven’t aligned since.
But now we have had a bit of rain through the week, then a good dump of snow on the plateau.
Time to give it a crack
Unfortunately Brain had to bail last minute…. Now I was concerned. How would Penny help Gadget and the others foil Dr Claw without him?
Anyhoo
We meet up at the ZigZag railway on a crispy morning, pile into cars and head in (Yeah we were going the long way, or at least the slow way, but we had our reasons)
The road was boggy but some awesomely excellent driving by Von Slickstein saw him follow us through in his 2WD ute.
Packed up, nervous whizs and off we go
The trip is pretty basic, some easy nav along the ridge, and a couple of dry abseils land you on a large flat shelf above the falls.
Its a pretty spot
And it’s from this point we plan to mix things up. The usual line is in 2 stages a few meters to river left of the falls. Despite ice in puddles and a few patches of snow up top we are hoping to rig things to go straight down the guts.
We discuss options, a tree would have us in the perfect spot, but it’s a looooooong way back.
We have everything we need to build a long anchor but ideally we’d set it as a retrievable so we don’t leave anything behind.
Options were discussed before deciding to use a shorter rope around the tree set on the fiddlestick near the edge then tie jthe main line below the stick…
Go Go Gadget retrievable anchor and Roberts your Aunty’s husband or sumfink
Stirlo’s down and so far nobody has died. Wootwoot
And we are all down, now to see if we can retrieve things
Kylie pops the fiddle stick. Success.
Stirlo and Ed pull the rope. Success
‘Cept the fiddlestick then wedges itself in the only crack on the halfway ledge and the tail of the rope wraps itself around the only stick in the only crack on the halfway ledge…
Luckily the way out goes up to the halfway ledge and a delicate bit of rope work with the spare rope gets me in a position to release both
We high 5 and begin to pack up for the haul out
Voices…. Up above smiling faces pear over the cliff. I recognise Dick. He is with Laurie, Mick, Peter and crew. This is 2 trips in a row we’ve run into them. We head up and say g’day
Then we are back in the cars for a bite to eat and then back through the mudbath for a little add on that took longer to get there than to do.
Worth it but
Anchor trees in this one can be a bit hard to get and ghosting (Fiddlestick/smooth operator..) is definitely the way to go. Would hate to see slings or chains in this one
x
And 10min later we’re back up at the cars
Another awesomely excellent adventure with awesomely excellent mates.
“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you; spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” — Amy Poehler
01/01/2021
Ed, Ethan, Dick, Russ, Libby, Jared and Paul and me
So New Years Day we have developed a bit of a tradition of doing an “easy, recovery” canyon. This year the families ditched us but other mates came along.
All photos here a copy write to Ed as my camera still needs repairing
We meet up at the car park and head off down the trail. Post fires the trail is very overgrown with grass at the moment and despite knowing it reasonably well there were a couple of spots at the start where we really had to look for it.
Some off us were smart enough to don wetties at the car park. We were soon soaked from pushng through the grass
But soon we reach the river ad crossed over
And then scramble up the small broken clifflines up the other side aiming for the short but pretty Horseshoe canyon
And then it’s time to blow up the floaties and get a floating.
With the usual banter, laughs and good times we continue down the river
Logs wedged high in the rocks above were a reminder of how much the water levels can rise in the ‘Gambe. But it hadn’t properly rained for a few days and even after the wet conditions we had experienced earlier in the week the water levels were fairly normal.
I’d say the river at the usual entry and exit beaches was up about 50-100mm on what it was in 2019 at the end of the long dry spell but the mighty ‘Gambe, usually viewed as a benign, casual family trip was about to remind us that even in these conditions our water playgrounds should never be taken for granted.
The following day tragedy would strike.
There had been no more rain. Water levels had not risen. But a change in hydrology had caused a dangerous, and hidden siphon to develop and unfortunately 2 canyoners lost their lives, 1 in an attempt to save the other.
My heart goes out to their family, friends and party members. It is a sad reminder that there is inherent risk in everything we do.
Stay safe and I hope to catch you out there somewhere
25-06-2017
Devon, Catherine, Mandy and I
So the enviros at work expressed and interest in visiting River Caves Canyon. So I teed up a little trip
It’s only a short trip
2 hrs car to car with a bit of time taking happy snaps so we decided on adding the Dry canyon to our trip
“I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put together.” –John Burroughs
sleepwhenwearedead 