Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray, seen during their Expedition Earth trip, are now planning to open a $15 million glowworm tourist attraction in Queenstown.
Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray, seen during their Expedition Earth trip, are now planning to open a $15 million glowworm tourist attraction in Queenstown.
Expedition Earth influencers Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray want to bring up to 1200 people per day through a man-made glowworm cave in Queenstown
A Kiwi influencer couple once detained in Iran while on a round-the-world trip now plan to open a Queenstown tourism attraction by building a cave forglowworms.
Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite have applied for resource consent to build the $15 million “bunker-style” man-made cave that would be about 2km outside central Queenstown.
The “eco-cave” would be filled with glowworms sourced from colonies on private land, while the couple would hire designers who worked on the Lord of the Rings films to landscape the cave’s entry and exit to match its surrounds.
The couple became famous documenting their Expedition Earth global driving trip around the world on an Instagram page followed by 300,000 fans.
However, in 2022, their social media page suddenly went silent when they were detained in Iran for four months. The New Zealand Government was forced to secretly negotiate the pair’s release.
Now back in New Zealand, the couple hopes as many as 1200 peak-season visitors pass through their glowworm cave each day, with Richwhite and Thackwray telling Mountain Scene the project aims to promote regenerative tourism.
“We hope the Eco-Cave will alleviate pressure from delicate unregulated glowworm colonies,” they said.
An artist's impression of what the glowworm cave entry would look like. Designers who worked on the Lord of the Rings films would blend the cave's entry and exits in with the landscape, the project proposal says.
Making the application through their company Faraway Entertainment, the couple said it has been inspired by similar attractions in France, such as Chauvet Cave, which contains early human artworks on its walls.
Due to authorities protecting the original French cave by preventing public access to it, a second replica cave was built nearby so the engravings can be seen without putting the real works in danger.
“Similar to these global establishments, the Eco-Cave is in place to allow people to connect with the natural world without causing depletion,” the couple said about their Queenstown project.
An artist's impression of a man-made glowworm cave attraction in Queenstown as submitted for council approval by influencer couple Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite.
Designs for a man-made glowworm cave in Queenstown, which Bridget Thackwray and Topher Richwhite say will "allow people to connect with the natural world without causing depletion".
They said natural glowworm caves can come under pressure from visitors with the animals being “extremely sensitive to a change in environment”.
The new project would allow a new colony of glowworms to be set up in an artificial setting that has everything they need to breed and be sustainable, the couple said.
The application to the council said the business venture had been working with University of Waikato and international entomologists to find a solution to threats facing New Zealand glowworms and their “fragile natural eco-system”.
Visitor trips through the 35.8m by 14m main cave would take about 20-25 minutes.
Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray set out to cross all seven continents in a journey beginning in 2018.
The 119ha site would be located off Gorge Rd, opposite the Queenstown Community Gardens.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council has called for anyone wanting to make a submission to do so before August 15.
The couple earlier started their Faraway Entertainment business during Covid when they built a private hideaway called Faraway Cove on pristine coastal land not far from Kauri Cliffs in the Far North.
Thackwray told the Herald’s Spy column in 2021, they had a waiting list of guests wishing to book it.
“Building in the Far North made sense to us, immersed in nature and outdoor living, which is why we have called our little paradise Faraway Cove,” said Thackwray.
Since their return from Iran, they have spent a great deal of time in Queenstown. Their application is being vetted by council and Faraway says the new venture will allow visitors to have an up-close and intimate encounter with the world’s largest living glowworm colony.
Before that they began their global expedition in late 2018 in the Arctic Circle before undertaking a three-year, 350,000km trip across seven continents.
After Covid delays and getting married in early 2022 on the Great Mercury Island family compound of Richwhite’s father, David, the pair embarked on their third and final leg – travelling through Europe and on to the Arabian deserts.
But in July that year they were detained in Iran and, for four months, their Instagram page went silent before they were released after MFAT and New Zealand Government negotiations.
