Where the spindly-legged things lurk

Louise and Chris Kay walk up the last hill before reaching Kay's Cabin on day one.

As camera meets eye I tense for an explosion of springing terror when I click the shutter - these things can pounce up to two metres - then BOOM, the flash fires and I retreat with a picture and a sigh of relief. The cave wetas had stayed fixed to the rocky wall.

Cave wetas aren't dangerous, I know, but the prospect of a cluster of the spindly-legged things leaping down your neck is decidedly unappealing.

They're not at all what you expect to come across when doing the Dundle Hill Walk.

But a visit to the Olsen Wet Cave, where the wetas live, is a bonus on this moderate-to-easy two-day hike through bush and farmland with a night in a fully equipped hut.

Beginning at Waitomo township, the walk incorporates the Department of Conservation Waitomo walk to Ruakuri Reserve, which could be a bit of a mistake. It's nice to be in the country but it is hard to call it countryside when you keep on popping up next to the main road.

Things don't really start to get interesting until after the Ruakuri carpark. Native bush clasps its fingers overhead and boardwalks cling to the sides of cliffs which plunge into vaporous, moss-lined streams.

When we break out of the bush we head across farmland owned by the Kay family who set this walk up about a year ago.

Inside the shell of a hayshed, they have built an outfitted hut where up to 38 trampers can rest their heads after four hours of hiking. The hut is exceptionally well-designed with gas cookers, crockery, cutlery and carved gender symbols on the toilet doors.

Sitting on the top of a 350m hill, the hut overhangs the crumpled Waitomo landscape. From the balcony on a good day you can even get a glimpse of Mt Ruapehu.

On our arrival the fire is blazing and some children from an earlier party bustle around the bedraggled newcomers, making our beds and offering us some of their soup.

Up and out by 10am, we leave the hut to descend into the valley which holds the jewel of this walk - the Olsen Wet Cave. The cave is 608m long and hangs thick with stalactites.

It's lovely to sit inside the cave, feet still stinging from the icy water, looking out as the stream reaches the daylight and begins its 14km journey to the glow-worm cave. Wetas, spiders and glow-worms reside in here in healthy numbers.

On leaving the cave, we return to farmland. The rural landscape certainly has its charms. Pheasants explode out of the undergrowth and the cows are captivated by strangers.

Having lined up along the ridges to watch us pass, their big watery eyes agog, they bound along after us, like a crowd of shameless rock fans. After a while, however, the farmland becomes all cow dung and fiddly gate catches. I can imagine this being interesting for a foreign tourist searching for the real New Zealand experience, but for the Kiwi tramper it can drag a little.

The last section is a revisit of the Ruakuri Bush walk which is shaped like a figure of eight and means you can take a different route back.

All in all it was excellent fun, and access to a relatively untouched cave with an entrance like a ballroom is a real treat, wetas and all.

* Rates: Adults $50, child (15 & under) $20. Bookings: The Waitomo Luminosa Information Centre. Ph (07) 878 7788.