Day 3 – Caving en route to Paihia

Browsing a tourist brochure last night, I came across some information about the Abbey Caves in Whangarei. I had planned to break our 3 and a half hour drive from Auckland to Paihia in Whangarei to check out the falls, but the caves sounded even better. After reading lots of reviews I realised that these caves are undeveloped, free to explore unguided and very wet! So, we needed to prepare ourselves for this adventure and took a quick trip to the shops on our way out of Auckland.

The drive north was far from pleasant. Not surprising since it was Boxing Day and we were heading to a very popular holiday spot. Imagine a trip to Margaret River on Good Friday and add single lane mountain roads and you’ll get the idea. Nevertheless we arrived at Abbey Caves, Whangarei about 1pm, got into our bathers and gathered our supplies. In addition to the recently acquired helmets and water shoes, we had our own headlamps and bathers and we were set to go.

There were three caves to see: Organ, Middle and Ivy caves. The first, Organ, was the best with a steep, slippery climb down into a cave that took about 50 minutes to climb through to the end and back.

Some narrow spots to squeeze past, some water to wade through and overhanging rocks to duck under. I was particularly glad Colin suggested the helmets after hitting my head 3 or 4 times. Once clear of the entrance light, we turned off our headlamps and saw dozens of glow worms shining on the cave roof.  

Middle was a little disappointing after Organ with minimal distance to cover. Ivy was almost as long as Organ, but mostly wading in quite a straight line, which made for some pretty views down the corridor of the cave. We could climb out the other end but had no idea where we were, so retraced out steps back through the cave.

All in all, a very enjoyable couple of hours exploring the caves and having our own little adventure.

Back on the road for the last hour to Paihia, with slightly less traffic than earlier in the day. We are staying in a motel on the waterfront with another impressive view – out over the Bay of Islands. We went for a walk after dinner along the beach to the wharf and treated ourselves to an ice-cream.