After our backpacking trip to Stewart Island, we planned a quiet day exploring parts of Southland before embarking on our next hiking trip. After a relaxing morning we set out for our first adventure of the day, a trip to Clifden Caves. We had visited the caves here before on one of our early holidays to New Zealand, but due to the high water inside the cave we had been forced to turn back. With much of New Zealand suffering from a drought (although the term is somewhat relative here), we were hoping that on this occasion we would be able to make it all the way through the caves.
Exploring the caves here is quite the adventure, you start at a small pull-off at the side of a quiet road in the middle of rolling hills filled with sheep. A small sign points vaguely to ‘limestone caves’ and just a short distance from the fence is the entrance to the cave. Other than a couple of warning signs there is no other information and you immediately drop down into a narrow shaft.
The walls of the caves here are beautiful, every surface is different. The main path through the caves is about 300 metres (980 ft) long, but we quickly realised that it would take a while to make it through.
After a while the passage we were walking through started to narrow and eventually the way was almost blocked by the low ceiling and fallen rocks. Catching sight of the small reflective way marker in the distance we knew that this was the section that we would need to crawl through. Making it safely to the other side the cave once again opened up into a huge chamber.
In addition to the stalagmites, stalactites and other formations on the walls of the cave, the Clifden caves are also a home to a large number of glowworms that thrive in the damp, wind-less environment. Every surface was covered in dripping water and intricately patterned rocks.
The shaft we were following made an abrupt turn and through the narrow chasm ahead of us we could see the pool that had stopped us on our previous visit. After removing our shoes and assessing the route, we carefully made our way through the slot between the rocks and onto a narrow ledge that surrounded the pool just below the water level.
Although ice cold, the water wasn’t too deep this time, and we were able to feel our way around the edge of the pool using the stalactites as handholds as we made our way round. From here we climbed a series of rough aluminium ladders that had been propped against the side of the cave before popping out of a narrow opening into the field of sheep. Despite having been underground for over an hour, it was just a quick five minute walk up the road back to our car. We were pleased that we had been able to make it though the entire cave system this time and that we hadn’t lost our nerve whilst edging around the deep pool of water.