Finally, the sheep. They're everywhere! Might have got one good pic of them from the bus. Deer farms all over too.
Fall comes earlier here on the south island. I've already seen several trees that have changed all or part of their coloring. And I suspect the rainstorm yesterday and upcoming on Sunday are an indication that autumn is setting in.
Had a lovely cup of tea with Adrienne, my new friend from Dublin, Ireland. She came from Queenstown as well this morning on another bus and she met me when I arrived here in Te Anau (pronounced teaAHnow).
We tramped all over town until we found a place she read about in her guidebook. The Sandfly. It was quite nice, and did seem very local, which is always a nice feeling when you're traveling. Adrienne says she doesn't really want to talk to any other travelers either. I find this so funny because we haven't stopped talking since we met, which was purely coincidental. We were on the same bus from Franz Josef and she was having tea at a rest stop and there were no other tables available and she offered me a seat at her table.
In the afternoon, we went to see the glow worm caves together. This includes a 30-minute ride on the lake to the caves. The lake was overcast so not many good pictures of that.
You're not allowed to take pictures in the cave so my description will have to do. The caves are limestone, I think, carved out by fast-flowing water. First you have to walk up into the cave. They have constructed platforms so this is pretty easy to do. And you get some amazing views of water pouring down through the rocks and sometimes pooling in eddys. It's very loud as the sound of the water echoes off the cave walls. And the water speeding through. Its kind of intense in such an enclosed space.
At the top of the cave, they load you into a small boat, six people on each side. And the guide stands at the front of the boat. The cave is not lit from here on out, so you're sailing into pitch darkness. They've installed wire ropes along the ceiling and the guide pulls on the ropes to propel the boat forward. There's no motor because you have to be absolutely silent or the glow worms will stop glowing.
Quietly, you move through the cave. You're looking up. And then a drop of water plunks down right between your eyes and you're like Waaah! And then you're not too sure you want to look up because that could have been a worm on your face! Okay, so that's what happened to me.
But then, you see a patch of stars in front of you, like a constellation and you can't stop staring, trying to make out what you're seeing. And then there are more and bigger patches and its so quiet. You can still hearing the rushing of water from the other parts of the cave, but here it's quiet and meditative and the glow worms glow. It was a lovely, peaceful moment. Then we moved farther into the cave and there was nothing in front of me for a long time and I thought, this must be what it feels like to be blind. Your eyes are open, they feel like they're working, but you only see black.
And then you look up and there's a few more glowing patches and then it's over. The boat pulls back in and you unload.
You walk back down through the cave and they let you wander through the forest and down to the beach. They give you coffee and a little presentation about the glow worm life cycle, which if you knew before you went in, you would never go in the cave. And then you're back on the ferry to shore.
It was a nice experience.
Afterward, Adrienne and I had a nice dinner of pizza, she had the gluten free crust, which was well done. I tried it and could hardly tell the difference.
Saturday
Today I went to Milford Sound, which I'll tell you about in a separate story. In the evening, I met up with Adrienne again to trade stories. She went to Doubtful Sound. Had a lovely glass of kiwi juice at this fancy hotel bar. We had such a laugh when we left and realized the whole place was full of over 60s glued to their crack pads. An Indian couple quickly took our place when we got up so they could get busy on their respective phones. Apparently, even in an upscale hotel you have to go to the common area to use the Wi-Fi. We thought that was hostel life. And we thought it was only young people glued to their screens, but boy were we wrong. Got a great pic of the whole room all staring at their phones, e-readers and tablets.
This is my last full day in New Zealand and I'm planning to spend it on the computer. Normally that would be so wrong but luckily it's raining cats and dogs so I don't have to feel guilty one bit about not going out. At 4, I went out to meet Adrienne. She had braved the rain, And taken a walk around the lake in the morning, got soaked through and had no dry shoes so she was wearing sandals, no socks. Way too cold to be doing that.
We had a lovely last dinner at the Fat Duck of venison, kumara mash, roasted vegetables and hot cocoa. A sampling of very traditional foods. It was again so fun to hang out with her. I hope we keep in touch.
Lay day in New Zealand.
I feel like I had a great run here in New Zealand. It was long, but short and I saw a lot and I don't feel like I missed anything. I thought I might want to stay longer, but I've had plenty of New Zealand and I feel ready to move on. It was enough. It was amazing and I could see coming back here but for now it's enough.
Besides, it's been cold and rainy here the last few days and I'm ready to move to warmer climes and stop wearing all the clothes in my suitcase everyday! :-)
Australia here I come.
