I awoke with my car troubles still unresolved but it would be 11am before the rental car company opened so we figured we might as well get a few hours of caving in before I found out my fate. My interest in Metro Cave was initially to have a more broad search around adjacent areas in the lidar but with our reduced timeline we just focused on having a nice recreation trip. We strolled the trail next to the tourist rail tracks and crossed the swingbridge over the Nile to climb up to the gated Triclops Entrances. As instructed we largely followed the twine-lined tourist trails, only leaving them at the established exit points. I forgot how modified this cave was with meters of sediment clearly carved out of some passages to allow comfortable tourism. We check out the Chamonix Hall, Conference Walk, Hall of the Refugees, Fox Run, Scalloped Passage, and Large Cavern out to the enormous Main Entrance. Unfortunately the cloudy day meant dull skylights. We checked out the Keyhole Passage and then ventured up along the creek to go in the Bone Entrance to see some of the skylights off of Kakapo Hall.
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| Hall of the Refugees |
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| Keyhole Passage |
We then reentered the Main Entrance, passed a guided group on our way to the weird black flowstone in the Derf Section, then took the Overflow Passage down to the Dragon's Teeth and cave pearl area. At this point it was time to head out to cell service to figure out my car situation. We stopped briefly in pleasant sun at the edge of the Nile River. Long story shorter I needed to get into Greymouth to talk with the rental car company, eventually getting a new rental car issued, and stopping for a few coastal hikes on the way back up to Charleston. Since I revisited some locations from a few days previous I ended up lumping these visits into a single post on the Paparoa coast.
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| Dragon's Teeth |
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