I'm on a tour of the Gruta das Torres, a volcanic cave on Pico, one of the nine scattered islands that make up the Azores, Portuguese outposts lying in the Atlantic about 1,000 kilometres off the European coast.

It's hard to believe that a couple of days ago I was on another Azorean island, Sao Miguel, sampling fresh local pineapple and watching tea being harvested. From my volcanic lair to the greenest of green landscapes, it's all in a day's itinerary when you visit this remote Atlantic archipelago.

Covered with a verdant countryside and exotic, colourful plant life, it's tough to fathom the Azorean islands began life as bubbling lava, forming fantastic natural wonders like the Gruta das Torres cave I'm manoeuvring around.