On our second day around Karamea we decided to head into the hills to explore the former gold mining area of Fenian. Not much remains of the gold mines, but the walking track followed the old bridle track from the car park up the Oparara River valley.
Our main reason for visiting the area was not the gold mines but the natural caves that form in the limestone here. We followed the bridle path up the river valley to the top of the hill where we turned off onto a small side track.
Immediately after turning off of the main bridle path, the track became a lot rougher and we picked our way through the dense, muddy forest, over fallen trees and up steep banks before coming to the entrance of the first cave tucked into a hollow beneath a rock.
After a quick look at the cave, we continued on to Cavern Creek Cave which was much larger. The moisture in this cave provided ideal conditions for stalactites and as we clambered over the rocks that formed the bottom of the cave we could look out into side chambers full of stalactites, and other creatures (look for the large spider). As our headlamps caught the rock formations they glistened and sparkled in the light.
The river in this cave also made it an ideal habitat for glow worms and we spent a few minutes sitting in the dark watching them overhead. Eventually we continued on towards the final cave, Tunnel Cave. As the name suggests this cave is in fact an eighty metre (over 260 foot) tunnel that you need to pass through in order to complete the walking loop.
We followed the small stream up through this cave, picking our way through the creek bed before climbing a small waterfall. As we reached the top of the waterfall the cave started to open out into another large chamber.
We made our way back out into the forest and completed the rest of the loop back towards the bridle track. As we descended back down into the valley, the clouds that had been threatening all day finally broke and we hurried back down towards the campervan as the rain started to fall.