The following is a list of some of the more well known caves and caverns in New Zealand. Not all caves have an official name as set by the New Zealand Geographic Board. The national caving association maintains maps of all known surveyed caves and the name is generally allocated by the group who first discovered the cave.

North Island caves

*Many

lava tube A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ca ...

s and lava caves in the

Auckland volcanic field The Auckland volcanic field is an area of monogenetic volcanoes covered by much of the metropolitan area of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, located in the North Island. The approximately 53 volcanoes in the field have produced a diverse a ...

, including: ** Rangitoto lava caves **

Wiri Lava Cave Wiri lava cave is Auckland's longest known lava cave A lava cave is any cave formed in volcanic rock, though it typically means caves formed by volcanic processes, which are more properly termed volcanic caves. Sea caves, and other sorts of er ...

Waitomo Waitomo is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand's North Island. There are several solutional cave systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred in ...

district: ** Aranui Cave ** Gardner's Gut **

Ruakuri Cave Ruakuri Cave is one of the longer caves in the Waitomo area of New Zealand. It was first discovered by local Māori between 400 and 500 years ago. The name Te Ruakuri, or "The Den of Dogs" (as it is referred to by the local hapu) was given to the ...

** Waitomo Cave

South Island caves

Broken River Cave Cave Stream, also known as Broken River Cave, is a long cave in New Zealand, located on State Highway 73. It is from Arthur's Pass and from Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of Ne ...

Cathedral Caves The Cathedral Caves are two connected limestone sea caves located on Waipati Beach, south of Papatowai, on the Catlins Coast in the southeast corner of New Zealand's South Island. The two main cave systems join together within the cliff and ...

* Cave Stream *

Clifden Limestone Caves The Clifden Limestone Cave System is in the Western Southland Region of New Zealand, on private land close to the hamlet of Clifden. Geology The cave is formed in Miocene limestone created from the accumulation of shell fragments, sand and pebb ...

* Honeycomb Hill Cave * Metro Cave / Te Ananui Cave * Mount Arthur caves: **

Ellis Basin cave system The Ellis Basin cave system is a group of interconnecting limestone caves located in the Mount Arthur region of the northwest South Island of New Zealand. In April 2010, the cave system was found to be deeper than the nearby Nettlebed Cave, makin ...

Nettlebed Cave __NOTOC__ Nettlebed Cave is a limestone cave located in the Mount Arthur region of the northwest South Island of New Zealand. The presence of ongaonga (''Urtica ferox''), an endemic tree nettle, near the bottom entrance gives the cave its name. ...

Moncks Cave Moncks Cave is a cave located in Redcliffs, Christchurch. It is notable for the amount of wooden artefacts discovered there in 1889 by workmen while quarrying for road metal. History The cave was discovered in 1889 by workmen who were quarrying ...

* Mount Owen caves: ** Bohemia Cave **

Bulmer Cavern Bulmer Cavern is New Zealand's longest cave system, running for through Mount Owen in the Tasman region of the northwest South Island.

Rawhiti Cave Rawhiti Cave, also known as Manson Cave, is a single large limestone cave in the hillside of the Dry Creek Valley southeast of Tākaka on the South Island of New Zealand. It is referred to as Manson Cave in the NZ Topo Map, after owners in the e ...

* Riwaka Resurgence *

Tākaka Hill Tākaka Hill is a range of hills in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. Made of marble that has weathered into many strange forms and with numerous sink holes, it is typical karst country. The marble is Ordovician in age and from th ...

caves: **

Harwoods Hole Harwoods Hole is a cave system located in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand, in the Abel Tasman National Park. At , it is New Zealand's deepest vertical shaft. It was first explored in 1958, long after it was discovered. Format ...

Ngārua Caves The Ngārua Caves are a series of limestone caves in the Takaka Hill range south of Abel Tasman National Park. The caves are located close to Takaka Hill's summit, adjacent to State Highway 60 as it winds its way over the Takaka Hill betw ...

Te Ana-au Caves The Te Ana-au caves are a culturally and ecologically important system of limestone caves on the western shore of Lake Te Anau, in the southwest of New Zealand. They were re-discovered in 1948 by Lawson Burrows, who found the upper entry after ...

Aurora Cave Aurora Cave is a limestone cave, part of the Te Ana-au Caves in Fiordland, in the South Island of New Zealand on the western side of a deep glacial trough containing Lake Te Anau. Aurora Cave is separated by a sump from Te Ana-au Cave (a tourist ...

References

External links

List of New Zealand's longest cave systems
{{Authority control New Zealand, List of caves in Caves in New Zealand Caves de:Liste von Höhlen#Neuseeland

North Island caves

South Island caves

See also

References

External links