We made the drive to Greymouth, on the West Coast, and headed to the Wild West Adventure Company for some blackwater cave rafting, which may have been one of the coolest things I've ever done.
The company really treats you right; we all got lots of polypro to go underneath thick wetsuits, and helmets with headlamps. This is serious stuff. Of course we were making a fashion statement. Next we set off on a tramp through some beautiful woods to get to the cave opening, where we assembled for our last moment of dryness for several hours. Then it was into the cave; I was completely awestruck at how cool it was (you can see me brimming with excitement below). The caves in this area are made from sandstone (imagine the sand on the beach being squished together to make a rock) but a ton of stalactites (from the ceiling) and stalagmites (from the ground), which formed from calcium-rich water drops filtering through the caves. It was a geologist's dream.
We clambered over rocks and through the underground stream for a while, and let me tell you, that wetsuit was a lifesaver in that water. At one point we came to a waterfall that's about a 5 foot drop into a bowl-shaped pool of water below - it was questionable, but of course we each got to go down the waterfall and drop into the pool, then our guide pulled us out and snapped some very flattering pictures of us. We continued down the little river in the cave until we reached a sort of underground slot canyon, which was just wide enough to fit innertubes in. 
From there, we turned off our headlamps and floated down the stream, reaching a wider chamber where we could see hundreds of glowworms - these are gnat larvae that dangle a dozen or so sticky strands from the ceiling to attract insects, and each worm has a little green spot that glows to attract prey. After enjoying a thermos of hot chocolate that our guide provided us, we headed back out, but not before going through the 'Tunnel of Love,' something that rivals the Lemon Squeezer cave in the Lost River (if you've done that) for space, and easily surpasses it in coolness - the rock formations in there were incredible. Also, we got to do a little hydrosliding on the way back (which reminded me a lot of OA at Yosemite):The excursion ended with a trip back to the Wild West headquarters in Greymouth, where we got to relax and warm up in a hot tub with complementary beer and muffins (interesting combo). I wish I could say more, but this story is just better relayed in person. And check out the pictures (our guide brought a water-safe camera down with us) to get more of the story.
The big sight for the next day was the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki, about a half hour from Greymouth. They're just really crazy limestone formations, right on the beach. They look so cool because they're in perfectly parallel layers (in between each limestone layer is a thin layer of mudstone) and erode really cool in the surf. Apparently it's unclear why the limestone would form layers like that (normally it doesn't). Despite the heavy geologic themes of the trip so far, not everyone was as analytical about all of this as Andrew and I were, but we did do our best to impress.Golden Bay is coming up next. Also, I've put up three albums on Picasa, you can see them to the right. I've got all of the other pictures uploaded, I just have to organize them and give them captions, so that'll happen soon.
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