Days caving including abseil, caving, zoobing and a climb = all with glowworms which were spectacular.

Facilities and grear were poor but guide was excellent. Loved it!!

Reviewed almost 12 years ago and experienced in March 2012

I was after some remarkable water based activities during my recent self drive tour of the north island and this excursion certainly filled the bill!

However, I happened to arrive at the office enquiring shortly before a group was to leave and quickly included without a lot of briefing.....what I thought was a 'black water rafting' experience soon had abseiling, caving and sheer rock climbing added by stealth!

I took it under my belt, having gone through the experience of kitting up, but found my helmet didn't fit me even after adjustment and my battery powered light was poor. Although a fit 53year old dragon boater, my knees did not fare well with all the wading through a rocky water bed where it was impossible to see where to step.

The crawling through some minor cavern tunnels to get a photo taken at the end of the crawl, seemed a bit 'set-up' to me, but they were reasonably done and available on CD only at the end of the trip.

The guide Rudi was great, especially as he had to come back down to rescue me when I froze half way up the 20m sheer rock face. I'm short sighted, and was encouraged to leave my glasses behind, so when he went first and I was to follow, I couldn't see which foot and handholds he used, so really only got up as far I had been able to observe before I lost my nerve. Rudi came down on the same rope and encouraged me to use my knees more to hoist onto smaller distances (which would have been hepful to know before I set off). I felt safe enough....it was just my frustration with not being able to ascertain where to go and my knees were killing me by that stage.

I can look back on it as an achievement, but would suggest they include a statement fully outlining the challenges to the declaration that you sign, and include any phobias for heights or confined spaces to the health risks checklist of pregnancy, high blood pressure etc which I did sign for.

Reviewed over 12 years ago

Guide was awesome - best guide ever.

We saw some nice eels down there, and the absail was great. The cave itself wasn't all that much to talk about: Just a basic underground tunnel with a stream. The rafting was silly and the crawl-throughs were only short optional ones where (2-3 meters).

Reviewed over 14 years ago

Days caving including abseil, caving, zoobing and a climb = all with glowworms which were spectacular.

Facilities and grear were poor but guide was excellent. Loved it!!

Reviewed almost 12 years ago and experienced in March 2012

Five hour tour through the Waitomo Caves.

You have to face your fears. Climbing through holes. Amazing.

Reviewed about 12 years ago and experienced in March 2012

I was after some remarkable water based activities during my recent self drive tour of the north island and this excursion certainly filled the bill!

However, I happened to arrive at the office enquiring shortly before a group was to leave and quickly included without a lot of briefing.....what I thought was a 'black water rafting' experience soon had abseiling, caving and sheer rock climbing added by stealth!

I took it under my belt, having gone through the experience of kitting up, but found my helmet didn't fit me even after adjustment and my battery powered light was poor. Although a fit 53year old dragon boater, my knees did not fare well with all the wading through a rocky water bed where it was impossible to see where to step.

The crawling through some minor cavern tunnels to get a photo taken at the end of the crawl, seemed a bit 'set-up' to me, but they were reasonably done and available on CD only at the end of the trip.

The guide Rudi was great, especially as he had to come back down to rescue me when I froze half way up the 20m sheer rock face. I'm short sighted, and was encouraged to leave my glasses behind, so when he went first and I was to follow, I couldn't see which foot and handholds he used, so really only got up as far I had been able to observe before I lost my nerve. Rudi came down on the same rope and encouraged me to use my knees more to hoist onto smaller distances (which would have been hepful to know before I set off). I felt safe enough....it was just my frustration with not being able to ascertain where to go and my knees were killing me by that stage.

I can look back on it as an achievement, but would suggest they include a statement fully outlining the challenges to the declaration that you sign, and include any phobias for heights or confined spaces to the health risks checklist of pregnancy, high blood pressure etc which I did sign for.

Reviewed over 12 years ago

Awesome!

I usually don't like guided activities but I wouldn't have been able to do this otherwise. Worth the $ for all the parts.

Reviewed almost 13 years ago

Guide was awesome - best guide ever.

We saw some nice eels down there, and the absail was great. The cave itself wasn't all that much to talk about: Just a basic underground tunnel with a stream. The rafting was silly and the crawl-throughs were only short optional ones where (2-3 meters).

Reviewed over 14 years ago

waitamo caves all singing all dancing tour got to do a bit of everything.

geat fun with an excellent guide.

Reviewed over 14 years ago and experienced in November 2009

Really the best value for money considering the 5 hours it takes, and is a combination of 5 different activities.

Really awesome!

Reviewed almost 15 years ago and experienced in April 2009

This was an awesome trip!

Our guide, Simon, was really cool and showed us a lot. Wasn't quite sure what to expect at first when we went through a field of sheep but once we got to cave it was awesome. One of the highlights of our trip (after skydiving).

A lot cheaper than other companies and well worth it.

Reviewed almost 15 years ago

Guide was a bit 'hap hazard' - didn't even notice that my climbing rope was caught on a rock - he just kept trying to pull me up.

Great, exhilarating trip overall though.

Reviewed about 15 years ago

This tour was the highlight of my trip to New Zealand.

Our guide Neil was highly amusing and entertaining. He also made sure our experience was very safe. The glow worms are spectacular and abseling into the cave was exhilarating. Floating down the cave in tubes with our helmet lights off was a really memorable experience. Try to remember some of the things that Neil or your guide tells you and you'll get more chocolate.

Reviewed over 15 years ago