Day 21 – Punakaiki

A remote rustic coastal resort (30 miles away from the closest supermarket), Punakaiki reminds us of Ventana or the Post Ranch Inn. We stayed here for 2 nights.  At first we thought we were the only guests, sort of like Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall holding down fort at the Lookout Hotel in Kubrick’s film The Shining, but by Friday some other couples began to congregate in the dining room.

We met up with 2 Aussie couples for some hiking and dining in the days that followed.

Pete, taking in a view of the Tasman Sea

On Friday we mustered up the energy to take a 4 hour walking tour of the scenic caves in Charleston.  The Underworld Adventures company warned us that good fitness was essential for this tour.  Our guide, Mark (pronounced Mauk in NZ dialect), drove us half way to the cave in an van; the rest of the way we were transported via small train.

Simon, a software engineer from Christchurch, and Pete in the caboose

The dinosaur movie Lost World was filmed here.

The local residents (our official sheep picture)

We climbed up 131 steps (some of them quite steep) to the cave’s entry.  Huff, Puff!

Mark told us to turn on the lights embedded in our helmets, for the caves are pitch dark.  The formations, a result of eons of water dripping and leaving behind deposits, are stunning.

Stalactite meets stalagmite–this is what LA’s bathroom showers ( i.e., hard water residue) would look like after a million years

NZ is famous for its glowworms.  It is the only place on earth where they can survive.  Here is a close up of one spinning bioluminescent threads to capture some dinner.  We turned off our lights, and the cave lit up like a grove of illuminated Xmas trees or like a million LED lights.  What a sight.  You’ll just have to wait for Pete’s video.

One of the cave’s openings.  Looks like Shangri-La from Lost Horizon.

Big enough for a dinosaur to enter

It felt so good to stand up straight after hours of climbing on uneven surfaces through 4 foot tunnels.  Thank you, Leki, for the great trekking pole you designed.  I did not slip once.  After 4.5 hours we pulled off our helmets to find our hair wringing wet.  Every article of our clothing was covered in dust and drenched in sweat.  These amazing caves are certainly worth the effort.  Mark told us that he burns 4000 calories during each guided cave tour.  At the end of the day, my knees were quivering like Jello on a plate.

Ah, back to safety at our rustic hotel.  We ate a huge meal, prepared by an award winning chef, and nestled in for the night as a storm at sea approached.

We found some time and energy, however, to update our blog.  Thank goodness for caffeine.

The storm cometh!  Tomorrow we are off to glacier country.