I’m not afraid of heights but crawling into tight spaces scares me.
Before descending in to the Black Labyinth The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. kitted my partner Scotty and I up in really thick wetsuits, helmets, headlights, booties and our own tube for the black water rafting.
We were ready to be guided into the Ruakuri Cave in Waitomo. The name of the cave come from Maori legend where rua means den, and kuri meaning dog.
The cave was first discovered 400-500 years ago by a young Maori hunting for birds when he was attacked by wild dogs just outside the original cave entrance.
The Maori believes the entrance of the cave was an opening to the underworld so many bodies were taken here. It is a sacred place.
We descended into the abyss and said goodbye to sunlight for the next three hours but said hello to thousands of stunning glow worms (really just glorified maggots) on the limestone galleries up above instead.
The sight of these was magical.
Jumping down waterfalls and winding through chilly streams to 65 metres underground is something I’ll never forget. The water was refreshingly cold as a contrast to the humidity outside.
Over the three hour adventure we had to put our faith in each other, and the team with us.
The tight spaces between limestone walls wasn’t as terrifying as I’d thought they might be and I enjoyed every minute.
Our adventure concluded when we floated into the sunlight of the Waitomo forest and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen.