Well, we have now arrived in the Southland of NZ. After a 4hour drive, we arrived at beautiful lakeside resort of Te Anau. We were able to check into our B and B, so we would be ready to take the boat ride across Lake Te Anau to see the glow worm caves and nature center we had booked before leaving home and were anxious to see.
I will find the URL to share with all of you so you can see the insides of the cave. If you have ever been to caves or caverns, you know that the insides are dark and dank. These caves have high ceilings up to 22 meters! Also a rushing river of water that made an unbelievable roaring sound! We were in a small boat that was on a track that took us deep inside to the back side of the cave. It was very dark and we were asked not to make any noise to disturb the glow worms. Then the show began, as hundreds of tiny flickering lights lit up corners and crevices of the cave. It seemed a bit unreal and for a brief time, I was thinking that these were simply fiber optics! Once outside we went down to the nature center to learn more about their life cycle, eating and mating habits, it became clear that we had viewed an important part of a delicate ecosystem for this area of the country. Quite interesting!
Next day we decided the guys had done enough driving so we took a bus tour to Milford Sound. Which is really a fijord, because it was carved out by a glacier. Everything in this area is within Fijordland National Park, a gorgeous park full of all kinds of natural wonders! An hours bus ride from the town through the mountains dropping from 940 meters to 200 meters down to the sound. Got off the bus and boarded a boat to cruise through the sound to look at waterfalls, rock formations, seals and a real surprise, a pod of bottle nose Dolphins! They dropped us at the observatory where we went below the water level to view the marine life in the sound! So Cool!! Wonderful to see things above the water and below!
The bus ride back giving the guys an opportunity to see some scenery and it was another awesome day in NZ. Back to the thriving metropolis of Te Anau, dinner and bed to rest for another adventure!
