Day 8 (26 October 2026)
Today's adventure is exploring the Glow Worm caves at Underworld Adventures! I know it sounds like something from the netherworld but it's not. Really.
This is in the sleepy town of Charleston. According to the guide, Charleston used to be a bustling town in the 1880s, with a population of 20,000 due to the gold rush. It was even proposed to be the capital of NZ! But the gold ran out in 10-15 years and within 2 years, the population dwindled to its current population of around 75.
The glow worm caves here are located in the unspoilt Te Ananui cave system. It's relatively unknown compared to the more famous Waitomo Caves in Rotorua, North Island, which suits us just fine because it means we didn't have to elbow crowds.
The adventure starts with an old-school train ride through the Nile River Canyon.
The scenery here is truly untouched and rugged.
This was followed by a short walk along a trek and some steps.,,
...before we've arrived at the mouth of the cave. It's pitch black in the cave, so we need to wear hardhats with a headlamp.
Here we go!
They really wanted to minimise human interference in the cave so there are no rails or structures or man-made walkways. The only guidance system is a rope strung together on movable pivots. It's so cool to be able to experience something so untouched.
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| Limestone |
Stalactites (from ceiling) and stalagmites (from ground) are mineral formations that grow inside caves from dripping water, drop by drop. It takes 100 years to grow 1cm, so these here are tens of thousands of years old 😱. Nature is amazing. We had to be careful not to touch them as touching them would leave oil from our fingers and cause the water to repel, disrupting the natural process.
This king stalactite is approximately 180,000 years old! It means there is consistent water flow in this place, for it to grow to this size.
Navigating the cave means walking on uneven paths. Some parts of the cave are quite narrow, and require some agility.
Joel took up the challenge of going down a more challenging route 😅.
In some sections, you need to bend, though there was never any part where we needed to go on all fours. The helmet was definitely needed - we could hear the bumps in some of the smaller caverns!
Some of these formations are truly a work of art.
This pollen on the cave walls is dated around 10,000 years old. I had this random thought, "What if I were to sneeze? Would that mean I'm allergic to pre-historic pollen?" 🤔
Contemplating caves.
The guide explained that when people got lost in caves, they can go mad because it's pitch black and you have to feel your way around. The darkness does something to you. Some people go mad, or start to hallucinate. To let us have a taste, he got all of us to turn off our headlamps and we sat in darkness for a bit.
I thought about how King David must have felt. When he was being relentlessly pursued by Saul, he frequently hid in caves. How he would have needed God's assurance and comfort in that darkness. I recited Psalm 139 in my head, and gained new understanding of this passage:
"If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you." - Psalm 139:11,12
We came to an opening in the cave. I was thinking, if I was lost in a cave in pitch darkness, how relieved would I be to see a light! It's literally the light at the end of a tunnel.
And we back out!
The whole adventure took about 3.5 hours. It was a serious workout, I could feel it in my knees. The guide said it was only 1.4km or thereabouts, but it felt a lot longer due to all the bending and climbing. To be honest, I did not know it would be like this. If I had known, I might not have gone because I wouldn't have believed I could do it. Such a blessing on hindsight. I'm glad I didn't know cos now, I feel so accomplished to have done this!
When we emerged from the cave, it was drizzling. The guide said a storm was coming (the one that was delayed for two days) and it was good we did the tour that morning because they might not be able to conduct a tour that afternoon due to risk of flooding from the river. How very blessed we were!
Tucked in to a well-deserved lunch at the Underworld Adventures Cafe.
After lunch, we drove to see the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, so named because the compressed layers of sediment over millions of years plus erosion led to these massive structures that look like stacks of pancakes.
This is the blowhole.
It started to rain quite heavily which gave us a sense of deja vu because in our last trip to NZ in 2011, we had come to Punakaiki, and it was raining as well! The weather here can change in an instant. It started to get really chilly, and the wind was more like a gale.
Some very cold (and wet) folks 🥶.
As we made the drive through the iconic Arthur's Pass, it started coming down in buckets. We could hear the wind howl as well. Against these elements, you feel so powerless and vulnerable. When the car hugged the sides of the mountains, we would face a momentary respite from the lashing rain. It was then that I understood what the Bible meant by "the Lord is my rock". The mountains truly are an immovable fortress against storms.
We were supposed to make a pit stop at Arthur's Pass Village but we gave it a miss as it was raining too heavily. We've never encountered rain like this in Singapore - even opening the car door requires caution as it feels like the wind is going to yank it off the car!
As we drew near our stop for the night - Castle Hill - the rain slowed. And this was our beautiful lodging - Royale on Cheese in Castle Hill, the ski resort town.
It's a self-contained, two-storey chalet. It even has a recreation room and outdoor patio!
Castle Hill has no amenities, supermarkets or cafes so the owner of our place advised us to get everything we needed before we drove here. There's a fully stocked pantry.
Lesley-Anne cooked pasta for our dinner.
Meanwhile, Joel got fire started 🪵 The storm had started again.
All was going well until just before dinner, there was a sudden blackout. At first, we thought it was the fuse, then Joel looked out the window and noticed that the surrounding houses were in darkness too. Was the entire neighbourhood affected?
I called the owner of the place who thankfully picked up right away. When I told him the situation, he was quite concerned and this had never happened before, he would find out what was happening. The news came quickly - the strong wind and storm had cut power lines in the area, some 444 homes in the area were affected. Apparently the gales were up to 168km per hour 😱
The power was estimated to come back on in 1.5 hours. At first, we were a little anxious as the entire house was in pitch darkness. Using torchlights from phones, a box of candles was located. I like how everyone was quite calm. Fortunately, the food was more or less cooked so the decision was made - dinner by candelight (with makeshift candle holders)!
It was an experience like no other! In the end, power was restored quickly, in under an hour. Hallelujah!
After dinner, Joel introduced a game for some family fun - Meccha Chameleon. Inspired by a Japanese videogame, it involves painting figurines and hiding them in the house for others to find.
We broke into 3 groups of two. I was paired with Andre. After painting, each group took turns to hide their four figurines someone in the house. The idea is to blend them into the furniture. No hiding in hard to reach places.
Locating these figurines is a LOT harder than it looks. We thought they would be found in no time at all, especially since we had limited paint colours and we restricted the zone to only the second floor. But in the end, some of them were plain impossible. I have to give it to my housemates for their ingenuity...like this one by Joel and Lesley-Anne - put something in plain sight - the original display was only one striped item (on the left) but they added another. Who would have guessed?
For me, I like this one Andre and I hid at the curtains. It was stuck on with blue tack. Honestly, even though I put it there, I still had trouble seeing it in the photo! Can you see it? Clue: it's on the immediate left of the bottom far right reindeer. You can just about make out a whiter half circle.
The funny thing is the other teams had shaken the curtains thoroughly and the figurine did not come loose. Joel (shaking curtain violently): "this is Mr DIY-approved!"
It was such a fun time. So grateful for this family with a shared sense of humour.
There was a guitar in the recreation room, so Mona rounded up the night with some worship songs. Thank you Lord, for Your provision and shelter. ❤️
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