3/27/10 (karamea)
Karamea-Little Wanganui-Punakaiki
We went caving for the first time at the Crazy Paving and Box Canyon Caves in Karamea. Our original plan was to head to the little raft competition in Little Wanganui. However, we met a couple from Nelson staying at the same campsite who said the caves were worth checking out so we decided to take their advice. We put on our headlamps, which the Kiwis call torches, and entered a really dense forest before we arrived at the caves. It felt like walking through a jungle. It was truly amazing. The name Crazy Paving comes from the mud step stones that have formed, which paves the way into the cave. I know caves are supposed to be dark but this was nothing like I had expected. Thoughts of the Blair Witch Project entered my mind and I wondered what would happen if one of our torches went dark. It was cool and scary at the same time. There were lots of different passageways and some led to more passageways. It was so dark that you can only see a few feet in front of you. The caves were lined with limestone so they would glitter when the light shined on them. Some people wear special caving clothing because you can get really dirty especially if you start crawling around in the caves. But we didn’t do any crawling. It was a neat experience and I’m glad I did it but I have to admit it was a bit spooky.
We then drove onward to Little Wanganui to see if the race was still going on but no one was there. On our way out we got stuck in the road since a portion of it was in sand. Jon pushed the car while I stepped on the gas but our tires just kept spinning. Luckily a car came by and the nice folks helped us push the car out. We were worried a bit since sometimes you don’t see a living soul for a few hours but it all worked out.
We headed down south to Punakaiki to check out the pancakes rocks and blowhole. They have these amazing rock formations that look like pancakes stacked on top of each other. Of course the café across the park was selling pancakes with maple syrup.
When we arrived at our campsite Jon suggested we go to the local tavern to have dinner rather than cook dinner. It was our Saturday date night. It was nice to have someone bring food to you that you didn’t have to cook or wash the dishes afterwards.
Like: pancake rocks
Scary: caves and getting stuck in the sand
New Zealand, South Island in Daily Adventures
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