DEEPest cave in the southern hemisphere

Caving is a great sport, practised by people of all ages. However, despite its popularity among a wide range of people, caving in NZ doesn't feature a lot in the mainstream media. This was not always the case.

In 1986 the route discovered through Nettlebed cave in Mt Arthur gave NZ the deepest through-trip in the southern hemisphere, the 3rd deepest in the world, at 889m.

In 1988 this record was passed by the Neide - Muruk cave in Papua New Guinea, which is 1178m deep. Now we in NZ have an opportunity to beat this record.

Our goal with this Expedition is to put NZ back on top.

The area for this Expedition has the potential for a vertical cave of over 1200m in depth.

Deep inside Mt Arthur lies the cave system called the Ellis Basin, with an international reputation for being hard and challenging. The cave system is full of deep shafts, huge rivers and chambers, and then miles of big dry tunnels.

775 metres beneath the top entrance, called Tomo Thyme, the cave dives beneath the surface of the water into a sump. This is truly the “world’s end”. Beyond, the cave holds secrets locked up by obstacles that have halted progress for nearly 20 years.

We do know the water from the cave system emerges from the ground in a huge spring at the head of the Pearse river, over 8 kilometres away.
To get there it has to flow under many ridges and valleys of limestone. We also know more water comes out at the Pearse Resurgence, than is flowing in at the Ellis Basin. This must come from yet to be discovered caves, that drain 1000s of acres of terrain, full of deep shafts and disappearing streams.

What we don’t know is what this underground land is going to look like.

So now the challenge is for humans to follow the water!

Currently the cave has been explored as far as an underground sump (where the whole cave goes underwater). With equipment to dive this, and then using a siphon to lower the level to let other cavers through, the rest of the cave can be explored.

Records such as this raise the profile of the NZ caving scene internationally, and promote the sport and knowledge of caving areas for local NZers. Following such publicity, caving may see an influx of young people, inspired to try the sport out.