Operation W.E.K.A
Meadows Cave

Meadows Cave Entrance
Meadows cave is located in the wilderness of the Kahurangi national park and has some of the clearest water seen in a cave by the group to date.
Stefan Parsons and Tom Crisp were the first to explore the cave in 2016. The first trip to the cave was unsuccessful as Tom, Stefan and Courtney walked dive gear some 20km to the waters edge before diving the wrong site. (see "The Wrong Hole") Upon surfacing from "The Wrong Hole" Courtney informed the group she had found the cave they were looking for. The team then headed over to Meadows cave only to have a few minutes there before having to leave for the long hike back out.




Returning in October of the same year, Tom and Stefan helicoptered in to the site prepared for two weeks of diving. After dive one the cave backed up with gravel blocking the way on. Two days of repetitive digging allowed the pair to break through into the cave system before being slowed down once more by extremely feathery silt, percolation and low sections of cave. The end of the line is currently in wide open passage approximately 200m from the entrance.
The Cave starts in a basin where care must be taken not to disturb visibility. Tree roots hang from just above the opening and have to be moved aside to enter the cavern zone where the passage descends on a slight angle down to 7m where the gravel meets the ceiling. After passing the dig site restriction the cave widens once again into a large phreatic passage with fine silt not seen previously in the cave. This is believed to be due to the gravel acting as a filter keeping any sediment out of the initial entrance slope. Not long after a breakdown is reached where the cave trends upwards to a depth of 3m where the real fun begins! At the top of the breakdown and silt pile the ceiling lowers with just enough room to hover over the fine silt and continues in the same fashion for 100m before opening back up into phreatic passage with small sections of breakdown once again. The return journey through the low section is always zero visibility due to the feathery nature of the silt. Flow in the cave is minimal and un effected by rainfall, however visibility slowly degrades and regenerates after precipitation.