Striped Tights and Wellies, Our Fashion Statement for the Day.

The next day, we had an excursion set up with Paul of Green Glow Adventures in Te Kuiti. He offers personalized trips that included rock climbing, abseiling, and caving. If you are going to spend money on an activity, this is it! And I can say that after doing 3 trips to New Zealand and it still holds true.

We followed his directions to his home, but were about 20 minutes early. So we pulled off in front of a gate and had some tea before driving up Paul’s driveway. Paul met us and took us to a mudroom where he offered tights, jackets, socks, gumboots, and additional layers if you felt you needed them. Fred and I were no fashion icons, but everything was functional. Paul loaded us up in his jeep and off we went – to the same gate Fred and I had tea!

We went through the gate and down into the valley and then we hiked to a rockface with many climbing routes Paul had set up. Fred and I enjoy rock climbing at the gym and Fred had done some rock climbing outdoors, but we truly appreciated how awesome the experience is to have a rock wall in your own back yard! We did a few routes and then it was time to get back in the jeep again.

We headed a bit further and Paul opened another gate and into another valley we went. He had an area set up to demonstrate basic clipping techniques we would have to use to traverse a steep incline and rappel (abseil) into the gorge. Once we passed this test ground, we went on to the canyon. Since it was “Ladies first”, I was the first to abseil down. When all three of us were on the canyon floor, Paul guided us to the cave entrance.

There were some streams to cross and my gumboots barely were high enough to keep the water out. But we made it across the wet bits and delved deeper in the cave. Some places were small and you had to really crouch down and weren’t sure of what lay ahead. But then you realized you had plenty of headroom and more. We arrived at a huge cavern and Paul advised us to sit down, turn off our headlamps, and we had lunch.

As your eyes got adjusted to the light, the twinkle of glowworms made their appearance. Paul explained the lifecycle of the glowworm. They’re maggots. And their glow comes from the digestive cycle, so you’re watching burning poo. They glow to attract their prey and have hanging webs to catch their food so they can survive.  Their adult lives last only a few days.  Adults have no mouth or digestive tracts.  They live to breed and then they die.  Maybe knowing all that won’t bring the tourists in.  Glowworms sounds so much better.

After our lunch, Paul set up Fred’s camera for some pictures of us in the caves. Paul has been experimenting with cave photography and seemed to really have it down.

Afterwards, we hiked a bit more and we ended up at a rig to lower us down to the next chamber through a small slot. “Ladies first” seemed to be the credo again. So down I went into the darkness. The things I must do!

But things were safe and sane and I was joined by the guys soon after and we continued our underground journey. There was a place where we were almost eye level to the webs the glowworms cast, and that was a very unique sight.

We finally emerged from the cave and it seemed like everything was overly green. I don’t know if it was our eyes adjusting, or if we were in an exceptionally green area, but it was certainly noticeable.

The only downside to the entire experience was when Paul asked for payment. I know he had me call him from home in the US with a credit card to secure payment. We got chatty about the camping options nearby and the call lasted 8 minutes – costing me about $40USD. I had thought the tour was prepaid or he had the credit card number to charge, but he couldn’t take credit cards for payment and he thought he had told me that in our phone conversation. Well, I was mortified! So we left to Te Kuiti to find an ATM and I was concerned that Paul might think we had “taken” him. Anyway, we withdrew our cash and returned as fast as we could to pay our bill. Having to drive to Te Kuiti and back out to Paul’s house made us lose about an hour of time, so we headed directly to our overnight camp in Raglan.

Raglan is an oceanside town that is popular with surfers. Our reservation was at Karioi Lodge. The lodge is a backpacker’s lodge that had only recently created some powered campervan sites on the hillside behind the lodge. The area was very wild and lush with vegetation. When we checked in at the front desk, there was a Stray bus parked in the lot. The bus was blocking the main drive to the campsites and we were instructed to use the back entrance. Between the steep incline and the loose gravel, Fred couldn’t drive the campervan up after several tries. So we returned to the registration desk and they asked the bus driver to move the bus. That driveway wasn’t much better, but Fred got up to the powered sites, only to realize over half of them were too small for our 2-berth camper. I think they designed the sites for vans with mattresses in the back, rather than small motorhomes, like ours. We finally found a suitable site for the next two nights.

I understand Paul has closed operations until further notice.  He had a medical setback.  After 5 years and 4 total trips to New Zealand, our adventure with Green Glow has remained a highlight.  So Paul, feel better soon, you ran a great trip which we will always remember!

Update 2017: The caves are now being run by Glowing Adventures.  Paul is fine, working for another caving company, but not as a guide.

The Adventure Continues>>>