Nettlebed Cave

Nettlebed Cave, lower levels, New Zealand
Pearse Resurgence, where water exits from Nettlebed Cave, New Zealand
Caver descends into Soft Rock Cafe campsite, Nettlebed Cave, New Zealand

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.

Nettlebed Cave was connected to Stormy Pot in January 2014, making the system the deepest known cave in the Southern Hemisphere[1]. Nettlebed Cave drops 1,180 metres (3,870 ft) below its upper entrance (Big Friendly Giant, Stormy Pot) to its lower exit (the Pearse River resurgence) and is 48 kilometres (30 mi) long.

  1. ^ Helen Murdoch (3 February 2014). "Southern hemisphere's Deepest Cave Found". Nelson Mail.