Remember her name, is what our guide Scuba told us when we started our five hour long Black Abyss Tour last Sunday.
Remember her name and I will take you upstream.
Remember her name and she will reveal her beauty to you.
Remember her name because she is a legend.
I did not quite know what to expect before we departed for the cave. We were getting suited up in wetsuits, gumboots, helmets with head lamps and the mandatory abseiling equipment. All the while being told about the cave, but not having seen it yet. I was the first one to descend the 35m drop down into the cave. It was an hourglass like entrance and having passed the narrowest part, I slid down into the inner sanctum of the Ruakuri Cave. With my head torch on I could see bits and pieces of the wall, and looking down I could make out the white gumboots of Branton (our second guide) waiting for us.
I sat down and just leaned back, with my light turned off, waiting for the others to come down. I did not realize it at first, but the ceiling was covered in glowworms. Little blue dots fifteen meters above your head, just hanging there, giving the cave a mesmerizing atmosphere.
We headed down into the cave, and arrived at a flying fox station, taking us over a little drop to the other side. It was merely three or four seconds of flying along the dark cave (as everybody had turned their lights off) but again, glowworms on the ceiling, glowworms on the walls. It was fascinating. It made you wanna fly through the cave some more, discover its hidden spots.
At some point we reached a ledge, sat down, had some hot cocoa and a cake-like thing (I forgot the name but it was delicious) and then we were asked to grab a tube, put it behind our butt and jump feet first into the water running below! Just jump, put your feet up and you should be ok. I was ok, completely ok, just some cave water up my nose, but hey, who cares! It was fun and exciting. We went upstream, as Scuba had promised and there, sitting in the absolute dark, clutching onto his helmet, we shouted out the name of the cave - RUAKURI. It might sound strange to someone who has not been there, but it was magical. The sound of our voices, the echo in the cave, calling back it´s own name. Glowworms glowing above. Scuba reciting his pepeha (his introduction in Maori) and singing in te reo Maori. And then absolute silence. Just take a moment or two, close your eyes and imagine the massive silence of this cave.
Remember her name and she will change your life.
Ruakuri Cave has been used by Maori for some 500 years as an 'urupa', a burial site for their dead. Even today the bones of the local iwi are not far from where the tour takes place. When the cave was discovered by the white men, pakeha, about 120 years ago, they did not respect the tribal traditions, they did not understand why the place was tapu (sacred).
Today, a giant spiral leads the way into the cave for the walking tours, thereby bypassing the urupa of the Maori. However, changes in the habitat, in the environment threaten the existence of the glowworms and the cave as a whole.
Lying in complete darkness in the cold water of the cave, looking up at the glowworm covered ceiling is awe-inspiring. The intensity and massiveness of the cave makes you feel very small and unimportant opposite to this power of creation. If you do not leave the cave being humbler than before, you have not experienced the cave at all.
Because of this, I want to carry a message forward. A message told to us by Scuba when we were listening to his pepeha.
The way we are treating the environment, the unthoughtfulness with which we buy new electronic devices, the greed of the industries producing these devices, the ignorance towards nature and the sheer and utter unawareness of the natural treasures all around us, is what will kill us and humanity in the end. This is not a dramatic representation of what is happening, this is the truth and the caves will show this to you if you don't already know it. Treat nature with respect, treat her with respect.
Remember her name and she will change your life.
Nevertheless, I want to share some photos of our adventure with you:
