Prospecting Charleston

              My paternal Grandfather, who I never met, owned a property in Charleston - where the Tennis Club is now. His dream was to retire there, and prospecting in the area was his motivation. He knew there were treasures hiding away in them thar damp and mysterious hills. I’m sure he woke early in the morning with a gleam in his eye and a spring in his inner-sole, eager to get the day going. Packing a few simple items and casting a wary eye at the weather, the allure of Potential drawing him out and on. So it is this morning, I was up before my alarm and beetling about the house assembling my gear. Check the weather; fine and clear - in some other part of NZ. Check the time, half an hour before Kerry calls by to pick me up.

              Today we’re off to explore a couple of new leads that Kerry found recently. He says there’s a lovely setting of cave pearls not far inside one of them - I’ve never seen cave pearls in Charleston before. And so where my Grandfather sought out the unseen places for gold, today I seek out the unseen places for pearls. Pretties and pitches, challenges and comradery, the je ne sais quoi of the Unexplored has taken a strange hold on me. Actually today has two objectives. Firstly to push the caves that Kerry found last time and then secondly to work on an ‘Development track’. 

               Bang on time Kerry strides up the driveway and shortly thereafter we’re loaded and off. At Charleston we spy Neil and call in for a catch up on the latest developments. Neil is a retired cave diver with a fascinating history. He emigrated here from the UK and settled in a random small rural setting. Some time after when the locals heard he was a diver they mentioned that there was a damp hole on the outskirts of town that might interest him. Which of course it did and not long after he discovered that the damp hole was connected to what is now the longest known underground dive in New Zealand. Handy huh. Neil is an enthusiast and an optimist, calling in to say a quick hello is like thinking that the account from the mechanic won't be too bad or that the weather is bound to stay fine for the weekend. Not. So Kerry and I made ourselves comfortable and chewed the fat good and proper, discussing hydrological theorems, cross-referencing local cave prospects and updating the status of the social network.  

              Today also marks a change of approach – literally. Instead of driving down the Four Mile and walking across the Hole in the Wall, we’re heading for the end of Darkies Terrace and then walking up the Nile. It seems to work well. 32 minutes from the carpark and over the swing bridge marks the start of the steps up to the Triclops entrance of the Metro and the turnoff point for the trek up the Nile. 20 minutes further on there’s a resurgence on the TL, which led to Kerry finding the two caves. The mouth has yet to be properly explored and which may go, but Kerry says access into it is gnarly. 

        Not that it’s probably very helpful long term but there’s a chunk of orange plastic safety netting lodged in a tree just upstream and that kinda marks a good spot to try and head up the hill. Unhappily Kerry and I missed that good part by about 50m and made a complete meal out of getting up to his caves. We had a target point to aim for and doggedly made our way toward it despite there being no actual way forward. At least not in any conventional sense, like ground beneath us, footholds, handholds etc. Where there was no ground we climbed vines in an authentic Tarzan style. Where there there were no footholds we slid gracefully backward down the soggy slope, I mean cliff-face. And where there were no handholds we kicked wildly and lay on our belly's, squirming about like unearthed-worms. 

Likely lads if ever there was

        In getting across what was approximately the distance from one side to the other of your living room we spent the best part of an hour.  And while we were in no really great danger of killing ourselves, it is still highly un-nerving to be tumbling backwards with a lot of downwards in the mix. Kerry has an amazing ability to make progress up and along where there is nothing to be moving up or along on or with. Nothing solid, visible or tangible, nothing that wasn't rotten, flimsy or what I would have called thin air. 
 
         Following him was like being a disciple of Jesus, it took a lot of faith. And maybe just a little bit of pride, me thinking that if a 70+ yo can do this then I certainly better be able to as well. Maybe I could say he churned up the slope as he went and made it all greasy and therefore REALLY hard for me. I could say that but it wouldn't likely have any truth to it. It was a tricky piece of countryside whichever way you looked at it and it reminded me of trying to fight the big kids at school, where you flail away trying to connect with their nose, stomach or whatever but they simply hold you out at a long arms reach and laugh loudly and rudely at you. Happily in this case no-one was injured and we eventually summitted some 20m up the slope ready for the next challenge - once we'd caught our breath.


       There’s a small bivvy that wouldn't really do for an overnight stay but is great for a cup of tea and to get out of the weather if there is any that needs getting out of. Round the corner is Kerry’s Rimstone Pedestal cave. It’s small but I have to say, if you’re in the vicinity it is definitely worth a look. There are no cave pearls but there is a pedestal crowned with a delicate array of exquisite rimstone pools. There is also an impressive cold draft whistling out from a lightly choked passage.  

Nearly cave pearls

Rimstone pools

  

            About 50m further north-west round the bluff is Kerry's Calcited Rift Passage cave. Pink tape marks it as it is well concealed under the veil of a rata fringe. This cave went some 30m in in a typical serpentine fashion, notable perhaps for two things. One, the walls are all consistently calcited with cave coral, flowstone and stals and increasingly so the further in you go. Secondly the ceiling is absolutely flat, smooth and completely free of calcite. I've never seen the likes. I got squeezed out at the point when I tried to back up and my overalls bunched up and jammed me in firmly like some Chinese death-grip device, but the passage definitely continues. No breeze tho, not even fresh air really, the cave seemed quite warm and stuffy after the first one.

Shower head stalactite

    I should mention that Kerry didn’t actually name the caves. His instructions in these matters, typically, is to “Name Later”. But as you can see I’ve come up with a couple of pretty nifty names to tide us over.

        After this we set about developing  the track that Kerry hope will be useful in facilitating exploration of the dolines tucked under this ridge. We made some progress but to be fair there's quite a chunk yet to be done. In theory it will run from the Nile River swing bridge to the Makirikiri Stream just above the series of dolines that ware prevalent below the ridge line.

         The location of the orange safety netting - the spot on the river bed where there’s a good place to gain access up to the track. Although at this stage this part is not actually marked. From here if you head on a bearing of some 256° you should get uphill without getting bluffed, once on the track there’s another prospect just there waiting to be looked at.

            Kerry’s track is marked with a white plastic tape with some pink writing on it, it can be a little hard to see at times but there’s lots of it.

Recycling at its best

  

Here’s a link to a video of the day: Click here for video