Caving in New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Caving
Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
is an established hobby as well as being a part of commercial tourism.
Recreational caving is practised by several hundred members of caving associations all over New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, who take advantage of the widespread limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
cave systems present in the country, especially in the Waitomo District
Waitomo District
Waitomo District is a territorial authority in the north of the King Country region in the North Island of New Zealand. A small part of the district, the town of Tiroa, however, lies in the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
of the North Island and in the Nelson
Nelson, New Zealand
Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
-Tasman
Tasman, New Zealand
The Tasman Region is both a region and a district of New Zealand. It borders with the West Coast Region, Marlborough Region and the Nelson Region. It is both a region and a unitary authority, and the District Council sits at Richmond, with Community Boards serving outlying communities in Motueka...
region of the South Island. There are also several hundred thousands of visitors to various tourist caves in New Zealand per year, though a majority of these trips would not properly be called caving
Caving
Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
.
Overview
New Zealand caving as an exploratory sport is thought to have started with a group of AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
-area people who started to explore the lava cave
Lava cave
A lava cave is any cave formed in volcanic rock, although in typical usage it is reserved for caves formed by volcanic processes, which are more properly termed volcanic caves...
s in the volcanic cones of the area in the 1940s (though commercialised trips through caves at Waitomo Caves
Waitomo Caves
The Waitomo Caves are a village and cave system forming a major tourist attraction in the southern Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 12 kilometres northwest of Te Kuiti. The community of Waitomo Caves itself is very small, though the village has many temporary service workers...
had actually already existed for several decades). The group quickly progressed to exploring caves in the Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
and King Country
King Country
The King Country is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman...
areas, and the New Zealand Speleological Society was founded in 1949 by Henry Lambert, with the first rough facilities at Waitomo being established in 1955.
In 1957, the discovery of Harwood's Hole in the South Island was to fully establish New Zealand as a country with extremely promising cave systems, and the cave with its 183 metre deep vertical entry shaft, and its passages extending for many hundreds of meters into the depths, was for a long time the deepest and most famous non-commercial cave in New Zealand. The area around Nelson also contains most of New Zealand's deepest caves (most discovered in the following decades), including Bulmer Cavern
Bulmer Cavern
Bulmer Cavern is New Zealand's longest cave system, running for 66 km through Mount Owen in the Tasman region of the northwest South Island...
, a 70 km long cave system.
New Zealand's cavers are mostly organised in the New Zealand Speleological Society
New Zealand Speleological Society
New Zealand Speleological Society is a national organisation for recreational cavers in New Zealand.It was formed in 1949 and currently has 300 memebrs.-Mission:Their stated mission is:* To be the national speleological body* To conserve caves and karst...
(NZSS), with 9 affiliated caving clubs with a total of 300 members all over the country.
Accidents and rescues
There have been a number of notable caving accidents since the 1940s, and at least four deaths . In 1958, Peter Lambert was killed by falling rocks while being winched out of Harwoods hole, and in 1995, Dave Weaver drowned while cave divingCave diving
Cave diving is a type of technical diving in which specialized equipment is used to enable the exploration of caves which are at least partially filled with water. In the United Kingdom it is an extension of the more common sport of caving, and in the United States an extension of the more common...
in Pearse Resurgence near Nelson.
In 1998, one of the most active cavers of the country, Kieran McKay, broke his jaw in Bulmer Cavern on Mt Owen. While the cavern has few squeezes and crawls, the operation to retrieve him from deep within the cave occupied around 80 cavers (in direct position or as support) from all over the country for several days.
In 2007, Michael Brewer, another experienced caver, was struck by falling rock deep within the Greenlink-Middle Earth cave, in an incident which attracted widespread media attention in the country. Brewer suffered cracked ribs, concussion, and a broken pelvis. It took about 3 days to get him to the surface (a 3 km distance normally taking 5 hours), and while most of the distance was covered with Brewer on a stretcher
Stretcher
A stretcher is a medical device used to carry casualties or an incapacitated person from one place to another. It is a simple type of litter, and still called by that name in some cases....
, and several tight squeezes were widened with explosives, he had to be pushed and pulled through some sections. The effort involved more than 50 cavers and cost around NZ$100,000.
In 2008, Jane Furket, a 28 year old experienced recreational caver and member of the Nelson Caving Club, fell in the Luckie Strike cave west of Waitomo. She broke her hip and lost three teeth.
New Zealand cave rescue
Cave rescue
Cave rescue is a highly specialized field of wilderness rescue in which injured, trapped or lost cave explorers are medically treated and extracted from various cave environments....
s are undertaken by SAR
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
teams composed of experienced cavers who have also undergone specialised training courses and exercises.
Caves
As well as lava caves in the Auckland Volcanic FieldAuckland Volcanic Field
The Auckland volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. Basaltic in nature, it underlies much of the metropolitan area of Auckland....
there are numerous limestone caves in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
, with the most well known being the Waitomo Caves
Waitomo Caves
The Waitomo Caves are a village and cave system forming a major tourist attraction in the southern Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 12 kilometres northwest of Te Kuiti. The community of Waitomo Caves itself is very small, though the village has many temporary service workers...
. The longest and deepest caves are in the Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park is a national park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers 4,520 km². It is the second largest of New Zealand's fourteen national parks...
in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
Commercial caving operations
New Zealand offers a number of adventure tourism activities and one of them is caving. Most of the commercial caving is done in the Waitomo area but there are also tours offered in FiordlandFiordland
Fiordland is a geographic region of New Zealand that is situated on the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western-most third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lakes and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys...
and on the West Coast
West Coast, New Zealand
The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island, and is one of the more remote and most sparsely populated areas of the country. It is made up of three districts: Buller, Grey and Westland...
. Black water rafting, where the participants float through caves on tyre inner tubes, was an early tourism venture and has become extremely popular.
External links
- New Zealand Speleological Society (NZSS) (umbrella organisation of the New Zealand caving clubs)