Two Kiwi influencers, who last year made international headlines after being detained for months in Iran, have plans to set up New Zealand’s first sustainable glowworm experience in Queenstown.
Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray are behind Faraway Entertainment Ltd, which is asking for council approval to establish and operate a glowworm cave, including live glowworms, on a 119ha site off Gorge Rd, opposite the Queenstown Community Gardens.
The travel bloggers are renowned for Expedition Earth, a three-year, 350,000 kilometre trip across seven continents in ‘Gunther’, their 4WD Jeep Wrangler.
Last year, ‘Gunther’ got them in hot water in Iran.
They crossed the border in the vehicle, covered by Iran’s retaliatory sanctions against the United States, last June.
Initially detained and questioned by immigration officers for bringing a sanctioned vehicle into the country, they were held for almost four months.
After their release, a year ago yesterday, former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she felt ‘‘great relief’’ they were out of the country and safe.
It was reported the government had been working for months to get the couple out of the country.
Richwhite’s the son of NZ rich-lister David Richwhite, one of the country’s richest men, an investment banker and partner in Fay, Richwhite & Company, while Thackwray’s late father, Phil, was the founder of Thackwray Yachts, which built the Spirit of New Zealand.
Site selection: Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray on the Queenstown site of their proposed ‘Eco-Cave’
They have close family ties with the resort — Richwhite’s great aunt, ‘Stella’, was the Whakatipu’s district health nurse in the 1950s, while they’ve also based themselves here between legs of their overseas adventures since 2017.
The couple say the goal of Queenstown’s Sustainable Glowworm Eco-Cave Project (Eco-Cave) is to promote regenerative tourism.
‘‘We hope the Eco-Cave will alleviate pressure from delicate unregulated glowworm colonies,’’ they say in an exclusive statement to Mountain Scene.
They’ve been working with the University of Waikato and international entomologists to find a solution to the anthropogenic threats that face the native NZ glowworm, and its fragile natural ecosystem, since 2020 – inspired after a visit to the Clifton Caves, near Manapouri.
‘‘We were saddened by the state of the caves that had been desecrated from floor to ceiling with graffiti, vandalism, and rubbish.
‘‘The caves were supposedly home to a healthy population of glowworms, but with unseasonal weather patterns and unregulated
access, the caves were dry and lifeless.
‘‘This kickstarted our research into the glowworm and how we could safeguard one of our national treasures.’’
Destroyed: Damage to the Clifden Caves includes graffiti
Their application, being vetted by council, says the new venture will allow visitors to have an up-close and intimate encounter with
the world’s largest living glowworm colony.
Inspired by globally-celebrated sustainable institutions like France’s Lascaux Cave and Chauvet Cave, Spain’s Altamira Cave and the UK’s Eden Project, the Eco-Cave will enable people to connect with the natural world, without causing depletion.
It’ll also allow visitors to experience glowworms’ bioluminscent phenomenon without causing irreversible damage to the colonies’ health, surrounding ecosystem and encompassing environment.
Glowworms are extremely sensitive to change in environment, requiring very particular humidity, permeability, moisture and climate control.
The purpose-built Eco-Cave is planned beside and on part of the land comprising Queenstown Adventure Park, on which Off Road Adventures is operating.
It’ll allow for controlled environmental variation, with the ability to emulate the precise habitat requirements, providing a safe haven for the species against rapid habitat changes and the effects of an expanding human population on natural colonies.
Get glowing: Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray want to create a purpose-built glowworm cave in Queenstown to give a different experience to that at Waitomo, for example
The primary proposed building’s the Eco-Cave itself — its visible entry/exit’s been designed by people who worked on The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film sets — the ‘‘bunker-style structure’’ will be disguised under native trees and grasses, with ‘‘naturalistic artificial rock material’’.
Visitors — up to 100 at a time, or up to 1200 a day during peak season — will meander through the cave, along a walkway, to view the glowworms, while an existing stream will be ded through the Eco-Cave to encourage a natural food chain.
Ancillary buildings comprise a ticket office, waiting hut and bathrooms.
The couple say they intend to base themselves here.
‘‘Queenstown’s where we are currently beginning our journey to become a family.
‘‘We hope to raise children here with a connection to the outdoors and nature, which is unlike any where else in the world.’’
However, the potential opening date of the Eco-Cave, subject to consent, is a ‘‘moving target’’.
