Our cave adventure began at 8 in the morning so it was another early rise.  We were going adventure caving on the Dragons Blackwater Cave Rafting trip in Greymouth. There were three others on our tour which was nice since it was a small intimate group.  We were supplied with an outfit consisting of a wetsuit, sweater, booties, two pairs of socks, helmet with a light, and galoshes.  Seeing the outfit I knew we wear preparing to be cold.

The hike to the cave was about 40 minutes which took us to the entrance where there were big orange-brown boulders with water rushing past them at the entrance.  It was hard to make my way through the cave being pushed by cold water and trying to find secure footing on slippery boulders.  As we went deeper into the cave natural light disappeared and the only light there left was the light on our helmets.

At one point we had to jump off a waterfall which was about 6 feet tall.  It was scary because when I fell into the water I had trouble resurfacing because of the falling water from the waterfall, but it was adventurous like the tour promised.

Near the end of the cave we were given inner-tubes to float to the end of the cave.  I turned off my light and relaxed on the cave’s lazy river.  All around me were little blue lights which lit up the cave’s ceiling and walls and it was all very tranquil.

rafting

These were glow worms and they made the cave spectacular.  When we were all at the end of the cave we were given hot chocolate and a chocolate bar and gazed at the “starry sky.”

Glow Worms

Then we had to make it back through the cave back to the exit.  Our guide sent us through another path at one point which was extremely claustrophobic, and I had to squeeze through cracks that I was sure I was too big for.  Somehow I squeezed though but I definitely prefer walls to be a bit further away from me.

Squeezing through a hole

Once we were out of the cave we were given the option to go on a “nature’s water slide.”  That was a small stream running down a rather smooth rock surface into a deep pool.  We were given mats to sit on and told to slide down.  We all hesitated because it looked scary and no one wanted to go first and even our guide said he wouldn’t slide so we were a bit skeptical since we didn’t want our holidays to end in a hospital.  Brave Hendrik went first and even though the rock face was smooth there were bumps and dips and Hendrik bounced around like pooping corn.  The rest of us were even more skeptical when we saw how Hendrik bounced, and I didn’t go because of my compressed fractured back and we all walked back down.  Back at the base we relaxed in the hot tub with a beer and muffin.

Watch the video of Hendrik sliding

Then we had to decide what to do next.  We had wanted to visit Able Tasman but in one day we could hardly see any of it.  We needed several days to do some hikes and we didn’t have that.  Since we had an extra day we decided to go back to Franz Joseph Glacier and try to get on a tour again, of course we called ahead this time around and booked ourselves a full day tour.  We had to drive back to Franz Joseph since the tour started early in the morning.  On the way there we stopped at Hokitika, which was a very cute town, for dinner.  We found a nice looking diner and I couldn’t decide what to eat.  I saw “whitebait” sandwich on the menu and I asked the server, who was probably the owner as well, what that was.  To that question the friendly man grew excited and exclaimed, “Whitebait is a delicacy.  You can’t leave New Zealand without trying whitebait.  It costs 60-90 dollars a kilo and the fishing season just ended.”  A woman appeared from the back which appeared to be his wife came and showed me a whitebait patty which was an omelet with lots of tiny white fish in it.  I was put off since I have never liked to eat little fish because they usually tasted very fishy and their bones would crunch in my teeth making chills run up and down my back.  The couple assured me that the bones would not crunch and again told me that I HAD to try it.  So I did and was really surprised at how lovely whitebait was.  It was great, not fishy and I didn’t feel one bone.

We checked into the top 10 at Franz Joseph again and I was very disappointed to find a trampoline at the campsite since it would have been an awesome way to beak some bones during tequila night.  Then we bough food for tomorrow’s adventure and checked the forecast – rain.

In the morning, in Arthur’s Pass, Beata and I went on a hike to Bridal Veil Falls, since it was less steep and looked prettier on the picture on the information sign.The boys went to Devil’s Punchbowl.Our track led us up and down and we saw a bunch of small waterfalls along the way and after a while when we thought we had walled too long we ended up on the road.

Most interesting thing I saw on the hike

We were a bit disappointed that we had done the track and hadn’t seen a remarkable waterfall and decided to take the road back to Arthur’s Pass since it would be easier which it was.Once we met back up in the parking lot the boys were very satisfied with their waterfall, so we had probably chosen for the wrong one.In the parking lot and all around Arthur’s pass were a lot of mountain parrots or Keas, and these big birds aren’t afraid of people and sometimes got uncomfortably close, especially when there was food involved.They also liked to chew the rubber around car windows.

flying Kea (Yes, we chased one around to make it fly to get a picture)

The second half of the pass was also very pretty, and we were in Glacier country in no time.As we drove along the windy road without seeing a mountain in sight we wondered how exactly could there be a glacier here.Our plan was to book a tour for Franz Joseph since you cannot walk on it alone because it is too dangerous, and then go to Fox Glacier since you are allowed to walk on it a little bit without a guide.

Arthur’s Pass

We quickly checked ourselves into a cabin at Top 10, and went to the info center.We were very excited since I had never been on a glacier which I remember.I asked the lady to give us some information about the Fox walking trek to which she almost laughed.After she realized we were serious she said that everything is flooded and that Fox is closed and all but 3 walking treks in the whole region were also closed.That was a blow we weren’t expecting and Simon was particularly upset since he was set of seeing the sunrise from Fox.Nevertheless, it was okay since since we could still go on Franz.We asked about a tour.She said the tours were all booked for the next two days.Time-wise we could not afford to chill out in Glacier country for two days and in 1 minute our glacier dreams were shattered.

As soon as we left we decided to get a bottle of Tequila for the night, but before we could drown our disappointments in alcohol we went to at least look at Franz Josef.The glacier itself is pretty far away from the viewing area, so when we saw it, it was rather disappointing as well.Simon couldn’t stand it and decided to walk to the glacier, but there were streams to cross and I didn’t feel like it and I think the others didn’t feel like it either, so Simon went on his own and we had a photo shoot “in front” of the glacier and showed how miserable we were.

Simon took longer than we expected because the walk to the glacier was longer than he had expected and he still couldn’t get to the base of it because there is a raging stream around it.We decided to go to the town of Fox which lies underneath Mr. Cook and do the Lake Matheson Walk. It is famous for its reflecting views of Mt. Cook, but since Mt. Cook was totally covered by clouds we didn’t see a spec of it and the walk was pretty dull.

We managed to have a nice dinner back in Franz Josef at the backpackers’ pub and then had the next quest of finding a liquor store.I asked the lady at the supermarket as we bought breakfast food and a lemon and she sent me to the Franz Josef Hotel.We found it, and it was very posh, but I went in anyway even though I felt like it was the wrong place and asked the hostess.She sent me further down the road to their other branch.Funny how it ended up being right next to the Top 10 we were staying at and was even marked as bottle shop on our map.The boys stayed outside pretending to be mechanics as they listened to the new rumbling noise the rental had started to make, because a broken car was what we needed now.

Beata and I went into the pub/bottle shop and it smelled like stale beer and unwashed people.There was no one behind the bar so I ventured out by the pokies machines where it was mullet heaven and every machine was occupied.At least everyone concentrated too hard to pay attention to me.I went out back and peeped outside to see if there was a server there and all I saw was a group of what looked like retired biker dudes, so I booked it back to the main bar where Beata was and we continued to wait there.Eventually a large butch woman appeared and we got our tequila and ran.

And the rest is history…