Caving Crew (left to right): Tobit, Alejandro Duque, Colin Arnott, Chris Hobbs-Massou, Blake Howell, Kate Martin, Anthony Broatch.
Our epic adventure kicked off with a scenic stroll through the Ruakuri track—picture lush greenery, hidden caves, and enough photo ops to make your Instagram explode. After taking in the sights and a bit of bush bashing, we found our secret exit—dramatically named the “downstream entrance.”
From there, it was onward through the bush to the “Zweihöhlen Entrances” where we finally entered the cave system. Helmets on, lights blazing, and with a level of excitement usually reserved for kids at Christmas, we geared up for our first challenge: a 12-foot downclimb that made us all question our life choices for a split second. But hey, nothing says "fun" like setting up a hand line and dangling into the darkness!
Next, we had a bit of a "warm-up squeeze"—because, apparently, the cave wanted to test our mental fortitude early on. But we pushed through and were rewarded with “the finger” stalagmite. Then came the grand prize: the colossal “birthday candle” stalagmite, which was so big it could probably host a party for all the other stalagmites. Seriously, this thing was huge—by far the biggest I've ever seen.
Our next challenge was setting up a ladder (and adding a belay for good measure) to climb down into the streamway. Once we were all safely down, we continued upstream, where Colin—our resident climbing monkey—scaled a 35-foot wall to set up another ladder for the rest of us. This led us up to the Lambert levels, which felt like reaching the secret level of a video game.
And then came the real fun: we stripped down to enter the “helictite grotto,” a first for me. Everything was new and exciting, probably because this was only my second proper caving trip, so I was basically like a kid in a candy store. After crawling back out of the grotto (with everyone’s dignity mostly intact), we stumbled upon the “organ grinder” (spoiler: no one got ground up). Colin and Chris expertly guided everyone through, ensuring that we all made it out in one piece.
Pic: Kate Martin happy in helictite grotto.
Finally, we set up the ladder again, climbed back down to the streamway with Colin’s belay assist, and headed downstream through the carved tunnels to our exit. And just like that—success! Another epic adventure in the books.
A massive Thank you to Colin for organising everything and also Chris and Blake for there caving guide skills.
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