Underworld Adventures

Underworld Adventures The award-winning Underworld Rafting Experience, home of one of the world's best GlowWorm displays

Underworld Adventures is a company founded and run by cavers located on the wild West Coast of New Zealand. With our passion for caves and karst we take you on cave adventures where you can experience the beauty, the fascination and the feeling that drives cavers to explore subterranean treasure lands. On each of our three tours we take you right into the heart of the marvelous limestone country t

he Paparoa National Park is so famous for. Going Underworld Rafting or joining us on the Glowworm Cave Tour combines fun and discovery in a pristine environment. Experience amazing cave formations, gaze at or float under a surreal galaxy of glowworms and if you come with us underworld rafting finish your trip of by a fun tubing down the gentle rapids of the Nile River. On this page we want to share your photos, trip stories and our cave knowledge with you so you can enjoy amazing underground impressions before and after your adventure.

We're partnering with Triple One Care to run a first aid course here in Charleston in early January 2026. There are addi...
08/12/2025

We're partnering with Triple One Care to run a first aid course here in Charleston in early January 2026. There are additional spaces available at a great rate if you're looking to update or upskill! Book today at book.tripleonecare.nz - just set the region to "West Coast" in the search box to find the course. We look forward to seeing you there!

Underworld Adventures is recruiting! Would you like to call this your Office for the summer?!About you:* You're professi...
30/10/2025

Underworld Adventures is recruiting! Would you like to call this your Office for the summer?!

About you:
* You're professionally presented and well spoken
* You love entertaining and telling stories about our amazing area and environment
* You're calm under pressure!
* You're confident in the water - perhaps a surfer or whitewater kayaker
* You're available right through our busy season - December to February
* You have a full drivers licence, or are likely to obtain it shortly
* You're willing to work flexible hours, including weekends

This job might suit someone who's back from Uni for the summer break, off to Uni next year, or even just someone looking for a few months' casual work over the summer. Drop me a PM or email ([email protected]), or give me a call at the office in Charleston.

Titiwai- Stars reflecting on the waterDive deep into our cave systems and meet some of the locals! Titiwai, or GlowWorms...
02/10/2025

Titiwai- Stars reflecting on the water

Dive deep into our cave systems and meet some of the locals! Titiwai, or GlowWorms as most people know them, stay bright as the stars all year round in our caves. While they can be found in small numbers in our native forests, they come and go with the seasons. Caves are the place to see them due to the year round stable conditions.

Where would you be without your gumboots?Keeping water out and socks dry, gumboots are a caver’s best friend. To leave o...
01/10/2025

Where would you be without your gumboots?

Keeping water out and socks dry, gumboots are a caver’s best friend. To leave our caves pristine for everyone to enjoy, white gumboots are traditional wear (instead of the common black “gummies”). White gumboots can pass without leaving traces behind on the pale limestone, meaning it always feels like a first descent every time you come and visit.

Photo: Neil Silverwood

Dorothy the trainTo start your journey with us, meet Dorothy the train. Winding through the beautiful rainforest and alo...
30/09/2025

Dorothy the train

To start your journey with us, meet Dorothy the train. Winding through the beautiful rainforest and alongside rivers and streams, runs our railroad. If you look out to the rainforest you will spot many native birds flying around; try to listen to their songs over the rumble of the train’s engine! Explore on foot from the top station then after you finish your adventure, you will have one last ride with Dorothy as she takes you back to home base.

25/06/2025

Cafe will be closed today due to an unscheduled power cut! Our apologies for any inconvenience

Limited availability just opened up for Boxing Day! Places were all sold out, but we've opened up some more spots - get ...
24/12/2024

Limited availability just opened up for Boxing Day! Places were all sold out, but we've opened up some more spots - get in fast, they won't last long. 27 Dec through until early New Year is almost booked solid too, so don't delay, book today!

A wonderful team Christmas function last night with our good friends at West Coast Horse Adventures - a sunset ride thr...
23/12/2024

A wonderful team Christmas function last night with our good friends at West Coast Horse Adventures - a sunset ride through the lush rainforest with expert guide Dorothee, for our guides and cafe team. Big smiles all around!

If you're in the area and looking for an incredibly authentic West Coast experience, we can't recommended these guys highly enough!

18/12/2024

Summer is here and the beautiful Rata outside our Base is in full bloom!

Did you know our area of the Northern West Coast is a real microclimate, with vastly different weather patterns vs the rest of the 'Coast. For example, we receive around 1/3 less rainfall than Greymouth and Hokitika (which are barely 100km away), while the Glacier towns receive more than 3x our annual rainfall! Even better, our sunshine hours are almost the same as Nelson and way more than Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington!

The bottom line? If the weather forecast says it's "raining on the West Coast", take a closer look - you just might find that things are quite different at our end!

In this weeks segment of meet the team we have the one and only our lead guide herself, the lovely Liana!Not many guides...
21/11/2024

In this weeks segment of meet the team we have the one and only our lead guide herself, the lovely Liana!
Not many guides are brave enough to work at Underworld all year round and carry us through winter but our brilliant senior guide does just that!
She is one of the hardest workers and an inspiration to all of us.

We are so lucky to have you Liana!

Address

Charleston, South Island
Charleston
7865

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 9pm
Tuesday 7am - 9pm
Wednesday 7am - 9pm
Thursday 7am - 9pm
Friday 7am - 9pm
Saturday 7am - 9pm
Sunday 7am - 9pm

Telephone

+6437888168

Website

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