- IJ & MD
50: Entry begins
We have delayed release of actual digs and these have already begun and are now able to see the end of Kūwaha Tāwhetaana without the need for a camera on gopher rods. The name doesn't represent the actual cavern, just the diabolical entrance to it. Someone filled this in a certain way to try prevent an re-entry by anyone else. You can tell by the way the dirt hides clay and the clay is on top of a layer of rocks and almost requires crowbars to release it - and all this inside a very small space. So, after finding something so well hidden in the hills that only a select few had ever seen it, we are now confronted with a more modern plot to discourage access after it being filled and covered to prevent anyone else finding it.
Getting there is not too difficult and within a short distance from large prominent hill that oversees a huge expanse of Waikato, but we may never be in a position to disclose it's exact location, and without that you'll never find it. Even to get a camera along to the tiny gap pictured below is a mission when you are confined and next time we are going to use the GoPro and LED on threaded gopher rods to get to the end to see if the fill stops (where we think it does) and the cavern begins. The photo below will give you some perspective...(all the other shots failed as they auto focused on the front matter being webs, and making the cave spiders seem like giants themselves. There was no room to readjust). The gap shown is barely 8" (20cm) and the dark faint dark spot like a half-moon is about 19' (6m) from the camera and is where the fill drops off into the open cavern (we hope!).
Due to the location, the fact that winter is coming on, work and family commitments etc, we have no idea as to how long it will take until we have seen inside and report what is there (boom or bust) and to take a few quick snaps of what is there before going back for the full analysis. Bear with us because we are doing something active, not just talking about theories. However, it is a good thing to talk to about theories, to challenge the premise of an idea, and to search for the truth about an artefact, an unusual place or even an historical event.
But we are doing the business...and now the wick is lit. Lets hope that it results in a boom - not a bust. And if there is nothing of note inside we will simply state that and move on to site #2.
