Saturday, February 23 - Cave River

This duck wasn't the only one that would get wet that day

We hiked up the river valley to the spot where the stream leaves the cave

You're going to get your feet wet, and your pants, and your shirt

At the entrance of the cave, the water is pretty shallow ...

... only about up to your ankles.

But just past this point you go in to rushing water up to your waist.  It's
not too cold, probably about 60F, but you don't think about it to much anyways
because after the first couple bends of the cave it's completely dark inside,
and you have to concentrate on pushing and climbing through the river
with only the light of you headlamp to guide you.

The were three small waterfalls inside the cave around 3 to 4 feet high that
we had to climb.  I didn't get any photos of those, but here you can see Diana
wading upstream.  The flash of her little camera works quite well.

Of course Kristy had to explore every nook and cranny we came across ...

... the wet limestone was amazingly grippy on your shoes.  Probably because
without any sunlight, there wasn't any slippery algae growing on the rock.

It took us about an hour to make it through the cave.  It was a slightly scary,
somewhat physically demanding, and one of the coolest things we've done
in New Zealand.  And it didn't cost us a thing, there were no guides, and I
didn't even see it mentioned in out guidebook.  

Later, after setting up camp near the pass, Diana
and I took a short hike to check out these falls

This made me think of Doug and his bonsai trees

I love this old Land Rover.  It hasn't been registered for half a decade, but
obviously someone has been driving it around.  I'd bring it home with me if
I could.