Spelunking

Just down the road from Pancake rocks in Punakaiki is a cave that, according to the pamphlet in our cottage, was supposed to be very kid friendly. It was also supposed to contain glow worms, which are actually fungus gnats with glowing bottoms. Luckily we had brought a lantern-style flashlight and even extra batteries. We decided to give it a go.

It was a pretty bright day, despite earlier rain, so our eyes took a while to adjust to the gloom of the mouth of the cave. We spent that time replacing the batteries to the flashlight to ensure that we had adequate light for our spelunking escapade. As we set off into the darkness everyone crowded around me because I carried the light.

The damp cavern had little rivers of water everywhere and I soaked one of my shoes before figuring out which way we were supposed to go. Soon we were in pitch black, except for the circle of light cast by the lantern. I let Ethan take the lead, because it was he was obviously enjoying the exploration. Calamity ensued!! Ethan dropped the flashlight, spilling the batteries into the water and plunging us into darkness. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Julia did not like the dark and neither did Noah. Ethan kept his calm and, by feeling with his hands in the water, found two of the four batteries. Talie and I found the other two and put them into the lantern. I found the backing and put it on. I turned the switch…and ..nothing. I took all the batteries out and put them in the other way round. Again put the backing on and…nothing again. Still in pitch black. Talie started using the indiglow of her watch and then I remembered that my cellphone had a little light on it. We tried to use this to fix the batteries of the flashlight...to no avail.

Talie pulled out her cellphone and we discovered that it made a pretty excellent flashlight. Using the light of the cell, we picked our way back to the mouth of the cave. We were saved!! As we entered the welcome light outside Talie discovered that she had lost her watch. My immediate reaction was “guess we’ll have to buy a new one”. Talie, though, with stubborn determination, decided she was going to find her watch because she really liked that one. She set off with Ethan to explore the cave using only her cellphone. Amazingly, after about ten minutes of searching, including going all the way back to the scene of our mishap, she found her watch on the floor of the cave.

All in all a great adventure, though next time we’ll be bringing a few extra flashlights.