Underworld Adventures operate several cave tours to the Nile River Cave system in Pararoa National Park. These include a glowworm cave tour, cave tubing/black water rafting trips and adventure caving tours.
The Charleston glowworm cave tour starts of with a ride on a narrow-gauge train along the Nile River Canyon through lush rainforest, followed by a walk through the cave where you can see glow worms as well as stalagmite and stalactite calcite formations. The return trip from Charleston takes 3½ hours with two hours inside the cave.
The popular Underworld rafting trip is a four-hour cave tubing adventure that starts off with a ride on the narrow-gauge Nile River Rainforest Train before entering the cave decked out in a wetsuit and helmet. A large part of this trip involves floating on the underground river on inner tubes where you are treated to a spectacular view of glow worms as well as calcite rock formations.
The adventure caving trip is a more full-on experience that involves a 40m (130ft) abseil into Te Tahi Cave followed by real caving.
Tours depart from Underworld Adventures’ Charleston base on State Highway 6.