After an unsuccessful ski day on Sunday, highlighted with: missed buses, transportation issues, skiing 1 run in an un-skiable 5m of visibility, retiring to lunch and wine in the bar, late pass closure announcements (to late to react to), returning to the bar for more drinks, and finally making it back to Methven in time to catch our shuttle to Christchurch; We were anxious to have another day to live up to heli skiing in the southern alps. The small town of Westport came through.
With an early 3:45 AM alarm we stumbled out of our hostel to catch the flight to Westport. The only shuttle available was a 4AM shuttle which got us to the airport 1.5 hours before our terminal even opened. Eventually after wandering the Christchurch International airport several times over, it was time to head to our gate: no security, no ID checks, just a long, cold outdoor hallway to a small satellite gate.
At checkin we noticed we were seated in the same row, but in seats A and F, this seemed strange for tickets bought together. However, upon walking out to the plane it was evident why – A and F were still right next to each other in the 20 seat prop plane. With the little sleep we had, we both passed out immediately on departure and wokeup to the landing in Westport, about 45 minutes later.
We were greeted at the Westport airport by Jeff from underworld adventures, who drove us into “downtown” and gave us a mini-tour of the city. Expecting Jeff would just drop us off on main street to find breakfast before our adventure, we were surprised to get a full tour of the town, including the closest point to Oz, and then brought back to Jeff’s house where we enjoyed a “Scottish” breakfast (porridge, toast and coffee) We spent a few hours chatting with him and his wife who were super friendly before Jeff drove us down to where our expedition would start.
In Charleston, we met Lynn who would be our guide
and who promptly fitted us with wetsuits, wetsuit jackets, gloves, booties, and helmets. We then boarded a “wee” train that Jeff was driving and took us in to the rainforest where our hike would start.. We both made the connection at this point that Jeff looked a little like the original Willy Wonka and we were expecting to hear him say “Yes, the danger must be growing. Cuz the rowers keep on rowing. And they’re certainly not showing, any signs that they are slowing!!!!!”. Both the hike and the train ride were beautiful – wandering through the rainforest. Everything was so green! We picked up inner tubes along the way and Lynn told us about the hike, the surrounding area, and her due-in-6-month baby.
At the entrance to the cave she stopped and gave us some scientific facts about caves and their
formation. This is a bit of a unique cave because it was found relatively recently and is not very commercialized at all yet. The boy scouts had gone through and put ropes up for a path and did a bit of smoothing on the ground – but that’s about it. It doesn’t have any lights or anything like that so the only lights came from the lamps on our helmets. The formations in the cave were amazing! Tons of stalactites and stalagmites. They were awesome! There were 3 levels of the cave so there was lots to see for sure.
Eventually we stopped to turn off our lights and looked around. There were dots on the ceiling and walls that looked like stars in the distance. These were the glowworms! Awesome! Turning back on our lights – Lynn showed us the webs
of the glowworms and you could actually even see a few of the worms. They were tiny! We then walked just a little bit further – scampering over rocks – until we reached the river in the cave. We got into our inner tubes, linked together, turned off our lights, and floated (or were pulled by Lynn) down the slowly moving river out of the cave.
Looking up at the glowworms above was incredible! They basically followed a line down the center of the highest point of the cave. There were so many! It seemed like we were outside just looking up at the stars. They were awesome!
Reaching the exit of the cave, the light from outside made the glowworms less visible. The exit was beautiful – with the light shining on the rocks and the green plants – it was great! We then used our huge paddle gloves to paddle down the “rapids”. The river level wasn’t too high so it wasn’t too extreme. It was fun though. We soon reached the bridge we had passed over on our hike and paddled over to the side. There were other people on the bridge this time as well and I can imagine they thought we were crazy being on the river on such a chilly day. It wasn’t too bad at all though.
After taking the Willy Wonka train and bus back to Charleston, Jeff gave us another little mini tour of the West coast. We drove through the “town” of Charleston. It was once a town of about 30,000 during the time of the gold rush (around the 1860s) but now there is hardly any town at all. I would guess it probably has about 50 people in it. Then we stopped at Cape Foulwind (named by Captain James Cook for obvious reasons)
where we got a closeup view of a wekas bird. This is a flight-less bird that is closely related to the kiwi. The kiwi only comes out at night though so we didn’t get to see one of those. Cape Foulwind is also known for its large community of fur seals. There were so many all over the rocks – including some baby seals jumping around in the water! It was cute!
Jeff then dropped us off in Westport – with an offer to come pick us up if we wanted a ride to somewhere in particular – but otherwise coming to pick us up in 90 minutes to take us to the airport. We grabbed lunch at a little café that he had suggested. Tyler had the whitebait which we learned was a Westport delicacy. We wandered down the street after lunch to a brewery we had heard about in Westport. It was basically just a large garage/warehouse where they were currently cleaning out kegs. They had to scramble to find a few glasses for the tastes. Most of them were pretty light – as most Australian/NZ beers are. We felt like we should buy a glass or something since the tastings were free but they didn’t sell glasses. They only sold a plastic liter bottle full of beer. Haha! Crazy.
By the time we were done there, it was time to head back to the information center to meet up with Jeff. He took us to the airport, walked us in, made sure our flight was ok, and waited with us a bit. The hospitality was amazing! We gave him a tip even though its not normal in NZ to give tips at all – but he had been great all day with the breakfast, private tours around the West coast, and familiarity with Westport.
The night ended splendidly. We flew back over the Southern Alps with some awesome views. We then had an amazing pizza dinner at a place called Winnie Bagos in Christchurch – just down the street from our hostel. The night ended with a bit of live music at an Irish bar and then my whooping by Tyler in a game of cribbage. Eek!
With an early 3:45 AM alarm we stumbled out of our hostel to catch the flight to Westport. The only shuttle available was a 4AM shuttle which got us to the airport 1.5 hours before our terminal even opened. Eventually after wandering the Christchurch International airport several times over, it was time to head to our gate: no security, no ID checks, just a long, cold outdoor hallway to a small satellite gate.
At checkin we noticed we were seated in the same row, but in seats A and F, this seemed strange for tickets bought together. However, upon walking out to the plane it was evident why – A and F were still right next to each other in the 20 seat prop plane. With the little sleep we had, we both passed out immediately on departure and wokeup to the landing in Westport, about 45 minutes later.
We were greeted at the Westport airport by Jeff from underworld adventures, who drove us into “downtown” and gave us a mini-tour of the city. Expecting Jeff would just drop us off on main street to find breakfast before our adventure, we were surprised to get a full tour of the town, including the closest point to Oz, and then brought back to Jeff’s house where we enjoyed a “Scottish” breakfast (porridge, toast and coffee) We spent a few hours chatting with him and his wife who were super friendly before Jeff drove us down to where our expedition would start.
In Charleston, we met Lynn who would be our guide
and who promptly fitted us with wetsuits, wetsuit jackets, gloves, booties, and helmets. We then boarded a “wee” train that Jeff was driving and took us in to the rainforest where our hike would start.. We both made the connection at this point that Jeff looked a little like the original Willy Wonka and we were expecting to hear him say “Yes, the danger must be growing. Cuz the rowers keep on rowing. And they’re certainly not showing, any signs that they are slowing!!!!!”. Both the hike and the train ride were beautiful – wandering through the rainforest. Everything was so green! We picked up inner tubes along the way and Lynn told us about the hike, the surrounding area, and her due-in-6-month baby.At the entrance to the cave she stopped and gave us some scientific facts about caves and their
formation. This is a bit of a unique cave because it was found relatively recently and is not very commercialized at all yet. The boy scouts had gone through and put ropes up for a path and did a bit of smoothing on the ground – but that’s about it. It doesn’t have any lights or anything like that so the only lights came from the lamps on our helmets. The formations in the cave were amazing! Tons of stalactites and stalagmites. They were awesome! There were 3 levels of the cave so there was lots to see for sure.Eventually we stopped to turn off our lights and looked around. There were dots on the ceiling and walls that looked like stars in the distance. These were the glowworms! Awesome! Turning back on our lights – Lynn showed us the webs
of the glowworms and you could actually even see a few of the worms. They were tiny! We then walked just a little bit further – scampering over rocks – until we reached the river in the cave. We got into our inner tubes, linked together, turned off our lights, and floated (or were pulled by Lynn) down the slowly moving river out of the cave.Looking up at the glowworms above was incredible! They basically followed a line down the center of the highest point of the cave. There were so many! It seemed like we were outside just looking up at the stars. They were awesome!Reaching the exit of the cave, the light from outside made the glowworms less visible. The exit was beautiful – with the light shining on the rocks and the green plants – it was great! We then used our huge paddle gloves to paddle down the “rapids”. The river level wasn’t too high so it wasn’t too extreme. It was fun though. We soon reached the bridge we had passed over on our hike and paddled over to the side. There were other people on the bridge this time as well and I can imagine they thought we were crazy being on the river on such a chilly day. It wasn’t too bad at all though.
After taking the Willy Wonka train and bus back to Charleston, Jeff gave us another little mini tour of the West coast. We drove through the “town” of Charleston. It was once a town of about 30,000 during the time of the gold rush (around the 1860s) but now there is hardly any town at all. I would guess it probably has about 50 people in it. Then we stopped at Cape Foulwind (named by Captain James Cook for obvious reasons)
where we got a closeup view of a wekas bird. This is a flight-less bird that is closely related to the kiwi. The kiwi only comes out at night though so we didn’t get to see one of those. Cape Foulwind is also known for its large community of fur seals. There were so many all over the rocks – including some baby seals jumping around in the water! It was cute!Jeff then dropped us off in Westport – with an offer to come pick us up if we wanted a ride to somewhere in particular – but otherwise coming to pick us up in 90 minutes to take us to the airport. We grabbed lunch at a little café that he had suggested. Tyler had the whitebait which we learned was a Westport delicacy. We wandered down the street after lunch to a brewery we had heard about in Westport. It was basically just a large garage/warehouse where they were currently cleaning out kegs. They had to scramble to find a few glasses for the tastes. Most of them were pretty light – as most Australian/NZ beers are. We felt like we should buy a glass or something since the tastings were free but they didn’t sell glasses. They only sold a plastic liter bottle full of beer. Haha! Crazy.
By the time we were done there, it was time to head back to the information center to meet up with Jeff. He took us to the airport, walked us in, made sure our flight was ok, and waited with us a bit. The hospitality was amazing! We gave him a tip even though its not normal in NZ to give tips at all – but he had been great all day with the breakfast, private tours around the West coast, and familiarity with Westport.
The night ended splendidly. We flew back over the Southern Alps with some awesome views. We then had an amazing pizza dinner at a place called Winnie Bagos in Christchurch – just down the street from our hostel. The night ended with a bit of live music at an Irish bar and then my whooping by Tyler in a game of cribbage. Eek!
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