(written on the February 12th and 14th from notes taken previously).
I was up relatively early, as the rules at this particular freedom camping spot required leaving by 9:00 a.m., so I was up relatively early and then out just before 9.
I stopped to get gas in Nelson, and then because there was another Pak N Save, this time my last for sure for a good while, I stopped on by two top off my food supply.
What perhaps more accurately stated, my junk food supply. π
I keep telling myself I’m not gonna buy more junk food, and I just keep buying more and more and more. π¬
Aside from the little bit of shopping, there were really only two adventurous destinations today (which I finally went to after quite a bit of time researching caving opportunities in the northwest region of the South Island).
Some of the largest, longest, and deepest caves in all of New Zealand are in Kahurangi National Park and nearby areas, and I spent a long time trying to figure out if there were any that I might reasonably and safely explore.
In the end, I found a couple of places, both of which I think were found in the process of doing my research but weren’t… quite what I was looking for.
The first spot I went to was called the Riuwaka Resurgence. You probably already know, but I didn’t: A resurgence is when a river comes back above ground after having been underground for who knows how long–which means it doubles as an underwater cave π (which is how I found this one, I think?)
I love caves. π
The walk to the resurgence was a relatively short one, and despite it being a Monday, the parking lot was definitely not sparsely populated. π
There were little swimming holes in the river along the way, but you could also jump in right at the resurgence itself where it bubbled up out of the ground right at the base of a large hill.
I hung out there at the Resurgence for a good little while, watching other people come and go, jump in and dry off, while I sat there working on my journal catch-up efforts.
Eventually, finally, I did jump in… or at least I think I did? Pretty sure I did. π
[It’s been so long since that day that I don’t remember for sure, but I have a memory of going out to the jump -off rock, looking down into the water for the best place to jump in, and then going for it? And I think I have memories of passing water holes on the way back but thinking that I had already gone jumped in and didn’t really feel the urge to go again, and I could swear that I was still damp when I got back to the van and swapped out clothes, but my memories of that part of the day are just fuzzy enough that I wouldn’t bet my life on it. π One more good reason to write my journal entries day of.]
The next stop in my adventuring was over to Harwoods Hole, a massive 600-ft-deep, 160-ft-across natural sink hole / vertical shaft in the ground that then continues underground as Starlight Cave, winding around underground, accumulating water to form a creek, before eventually opening back up to daylight after a good 3 hours of cave travel time.
Lacking the equipment to repel down the hole, I would love, one day, to do the cave in reverse, the pinnacle of the trip likely being arriving at Hardwoods Hole and looking up through hundreds of feet of cylindrical sink hole to open sky.
Unable to make that happen today, as I didn’t know how to get to the opening, and my New Zealand spelunking contact said it’s a 3-hour bush bash to get to cave entrance, I settled for the walk to the view from the top of the hole. π
To get there, I had to drive down a narrow dirt road for about 11 km to a DOC campground car park (which looks like a lovely place to stay, by the way, if you don’t mind a pay campground, but you need to book before you get there, as there’s no reception down in the little hilltop valley it’s nestled in).
There were a handful of relatively tame wekas (one of New Zealand’s flightless bird species) hanging around, which I fed π, tame enough that they were even willing to eat right out of my hand. π
I love making friends with animals. I love the connection with nature.
My home. My heart.
After feeding them (some cracker and some cookie, too, I think? π), I began the nearly three-kilometer walk from the car park through beautiful forest down to Harwoods Hole.
The trees at the very beginning of the hike were tall with almost no vegetation underneath them, which makes the forest feel darker and enclosed, while at the same time feeling open and vast.
It’s not long, however, before that particular type of forest transforms into the more prototypical New Zealand forest–green, thickly vegetated, mossy, etc.
Always on the lookout for caves I, perhaps somewhat foolishly, did a little exploring in mini sinkholes.
Probably not the smartest thing to do, as vegetation can easily grow over actual sinkholes, hiding the perils below, just as snow can bridge the gaps over crevasses on glaciers.
Anyway, as you get much closer to Harwoods Hole, the path starts to wind through jagged, rocky terrain as you descend toward the hole itself.
It’s not long from that point that the forest gives way to large boulders in front of and around and an enormous natural amphitheater above you–towering above and beside you, forming a sort of half cylinder of solid rock walls hundreds of feet high.
And of course, there’s that gigantic sinkhole below you. π
The only way to get a decent look down the huge vertical shaft (without hiking to the top of the towering cliffs above) is by venturing to the edge of an enormous boulder that’s perched on top of another boulder, together claiming the highest place on that side of the chasm that what just do happens to be right at the precipice of the long drop before you.
It’s… scary. π
So you climb up that boulder (that looks like it fell from the massive cliffs above and landed exactly where it now sits without bouncing or moving or anything–like the way the ring slides off of Bilbo’s palm and lands with a thud on his floor–because there’s no other rational explanation for how it could be there?).
Once on top of the boulder you don’t, or I don’t at least, stand. No, you crawl over to the edge, as if on ice you don’t want to break under your feet, or in this case a boulder you don’t want to be the means of destabilizing… and then look down.
π
Yes, the stomach gets a little fluttery. π
I guess somewhere I missed the sign that tells you to not throw rocks down the shaft π (a couple of people would later mention that to me), and being curious about the depth and how long it would take for a rock to reach the bottom, I wandered around until I had found a sufficient number of test rocks, and then I yelled down the hole to make sure there wasn’t anyone that I could hit down there, and then one by one, I tossed rocks down the hole in different spots.
I think maybe the hole is somewhat cornucopia shaped?
There were some places where the rock seemed to hit relatively early, and then there were other places where, again stealing a comparable experience from the Lord of the Rings, it was kind of like when Pippin knocked the skeleton and chain down the hole in the Mines of Moria. You think maybe it hit the bottom, but then you hear some even more distant banging.
I stayed there at that rock hanging out for a good long time just sort of taking everything in. While I was there, there was an older couple that came by.
A bit later there were a couple of guys who came by. They were the ones that I mentioned tossing the rocks down to who, in turn, told me about the sign.
Oops. π
I chatted with them for a bit, showed one of them my route for climbing up that last boulder and peeking over the edge (not super easy, and a little scary π), and he also tried the rock toss experiment.
The walk back was pretty, though the sun was going down, so it was darker than the walk in, and I was ready to get back to the van.
When I got back to the main road, I was happy to see that there was a freedom camping spot just slightly down the road from where I was! (near the top of TΔkaka Hill).
Unfortunately, it was late enough in the day that that spot was already completely slammed with people.
π
So I started driving back the way I had come with the intention of descending into The valley below on the way to the actual town of TΔkaka.
As I was driving back, I saw a small dirt road off to the side of the main road, so I decided to take it to see if it might yield a stopping place for the night, but it turned out to be private property. π
So I continued on the road, starting to descend the large hill/mountain before I saw another dirt road off to the side. I found it a good little ways and realized that it eventually went to houses way up in the bush, so that wouldn’t do, but as I drove that road, I realized that it had little access roads to none other than, drumroll please, power line towers.
π
After sort of feeling my way around for a little bit trying to figure out the best place to park for the night, I settled on a spot where the little dirt access road wound around and into the bush.
I did a u-turn once I had some open space, and part with my nose facing uphill, to be ready to leave in the morning.
Once settled, I veged out for a bit and also spent some time working on my journal catch up efforts.
I think I’m falling further behind than I am catching up. π
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 