FROM ONE BEGINNER TO ANOTHER

I have no idea what I’m doing,” I tell myself, stopping to take a mental snapshot of the surrounding mountain range. It’s mid-summer, early January; the heat stings my face. And then – after taking in one last look at the midday sun beaming through the ‘Panorama’ entrance – I turn my head-torch on, dip below the rock and begin my journey to the heart of Bulmer Cavern.

Minutes earlier, I had been in baking heat; now, a vacuum of chilled air catches the beads of sweat on my face. I cool down immediately. Sifting through my memories for help, I don’t find anything to compare this adventure with. It dawns on me that I’m about to learn an activity from scratch. “How long has it been since I’ve done something completely different?” I think hard about that one. My mind drifts back to two weeks earlier when, by happy accident, I was invited to New Zealand to join an expedition