Caves and Coal in Westport

Last weekend I returned to the "Wild West Coast" for a weekend cave rafting adventure.  Just a few km's south of Westport, there's a town called Charleston.  There used to be a hotel there (It closed.)  There used to be a pub/restaurant there (Closed as well.)  But still in existence is the Norwest Adventures company, which I bought a 2-for-1 voucher to go caverafting!  My pal Marty was keen to join me, so off we went.

New Zealand has so many rivers and streams that they need to start getting creative with their naming.  I was psyched to see this one...

And of course Marty (short for Martin), of course loved this one!

Our cave rafting adventure departed from the teeny tiny town of Charleston.  They suited us up with wesuits, booties, gloves, helmets, the works!  (It *is* winter here, remember).  They then loaded us on a cute little train thing that choo-choo'ed us to the cave entrance.

They gave us inner tubes that we had to carry up 120-some steps to the top of the cave.   Here's a group photo, BEFORE the crazy steps.

The caves were spectacular! I couldn't believe how many networks there were--- we must've walked for over an hour, all inside the caves!  

The guide took photos of us with her handy-dandy waterproof camera.  Don't we look official here? ;)

At one point we were so deep in the cave we all turned off our headlamps and it was dark.  Like so dark you can't see your hand waving in front of your face.  So dark that there's NO light and it's impossible for your eyes to adjust!

After the caves by foot, it was time to explore caves by tube!   We all hopped in our tubes and linked up to navigate some skinny cave passages.  We turned our headlamps off again, and the glowworm display was spectacular.

20 minutes later, we made it to where the cave waters meet the Charleston River.   It had rained a bunch earlier that week, so there were mini rapids for us to enjoy.

 Whee!

After our cave rafting adventure, we decided to check out the Truman Track, a beach path along the West Coast with fantastic rock formations.

Saturday night was spent eating fish and chips at the local pub in Westport and watching the New Zealand All Blacks DESTROY South Africa.  (On a side note, the Rugby World Cup is just about a month away and guess who's got tickets to USA vs Ireleand?? Meeeee!)

Sunday we headed north of Westport to the historic town on a hill called Denniston.

Guess what they have there?

Yep, that's coal!

In the early 20th century Dennistown was a booming mine town with a population over 2000.  Now it's a ghost town, population now of less than 50.  But the Dept of Conservation is doing an amazing job at preserving the remains still there (the mines closed in the late 1960s). 

While the picture above may not look like much, it's actually the top of the Dennistown Incline. This was a track that linked the hilltop town (600 meters elevation) down to Conn's Creek, the railway terminus at the bottom of the incline.  The track fell 510 meters in 1.7 kilometers, so it was quite steep!!  This was how coal was brought down the hill.  There were actually two inclines on a pulley system--- the weight of a heavy coal wagon going down would pull an empty wagon back up the the top.  Over the incline's lifetime, it carried an estimated 12 MILLION tons of coal!

It's hard to see, but the track thru the trees in the valley is what remains of the Incline track below.  That's a long way down!!

Here are some old remains lying around in the town, from building foundations to spare wagon parts and such.

Hanging on tight to a coal wagon!   (Don't worry, it was locked in place)  :)

There was also an aerial tower still in place that they used to transport smaller buckets through town in the air.   Kind of reminds me of a skyride at an amusement park!

So as you can see, our weekend on the West Coast was both educational and fun.

Cheers from your favorite spelunking doctor!