Day ten, we decided to awake extra early (6am) in order to beat the rush to Milford Sounds. Milford Sound is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand (called, surprisingly, the Fiordlands) and is the number one tourist attraction of the south island. Every guide book and information centre recommends the cruise across the sound, and every one of them say to prebook or get there early to avoid disappointment. As we hadn’t pre-booked, and we’d heard bad things about the ‘lunch time rush’, we set off at 6.30 to do the 2.5 hour drive to the Fiordlands. Along the way we passed some scenic ‘hotspots’:
And the Homer Tunnel, a several kilometre man made tunnel through the mountainside:
Milford sound
Once we got there, we caught the first cruise leaving at 9.30 with ‘Jucy’ - who also operate as a vehicle hire company. We had a coupon for buy one get one half price, courtesy of a free AA guidebook we got at the airport.
The views were pretty decent, and had we not had our breath taken away quite so often on the previous days, we might have found this a lot more entertaining. As it was, we got to see lots of scenic cliff faces, waterfalls and dramatic landscapes, but I don't think either of us were ‘blown away’ like most of the guide books write about:
We were even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of some seals at a couple of locations:
And yes, unbelievably, there were yet more Israeli’s. We didn’t see them for long, but at one point there was a man and two women sat behind us speaking Hebrew to each other.
Rainforest Hike
Cruise over, we realised we had a whole afternoon with nothing planned, so decided to take a leisurely drive back to Te Anau and stop if we saw something interesting. I don't think either of us planned to stop so quickly, but we found a scenic bridge crossing a river, and a sign pointing to a rainforest trek:
We even saw the same Israeli’s pull up and enter the rainforest after us, but they weren’t dressed suitably (jandals) so didn’t stay very long.
A rainforest walk was always something on our to do list, but until then we figured on seeing it up in Franz Josef higher up along the west coast, this ticked a box, offered to fill our afternoon and possibly free up more space in adventure-filled Franz Josef.
The afternoon was filled with trekking across a humid and cramped forest, where everything was wet, and either covered in moss or lichen. The path was narrow, steep and covered in a maze of tree roots and rocks that forced you to think abut every footstep. As a result it was fairly slow going, but well worth it. We forded umpteen rivers, traversed steep walls made of tree roots, admired many waterfalls and slipped thousands of times on mossy rocks and branches. I’m sure we never even covered 6 miles, but at all times it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Probably one of my favourite walks i’ve ever done, but I’ll let the pics speak for themselves:
After the walk we headed back to Te Anau to book the evenings entertainment: The Glowworm Caves.
These were nearly all fully booked by the time we got there, but fortunately there were a few spaces left on the 21:30 trip, so we bagged them, and went for something to eat in the meantime. I had my first taste of New Zealand steak at a place called the Olive Tree in Te Anau, whilst Yo had a vegetable wrap.
The Glowworm Caves
We came across the caves advertised in the Lonely Planet guidebook, and instantly added them to our to do list. Consisting of a cruise across Lake Te Anau (the largest freshwater lake in NZ) to a cave system branching more than 7km deep, the tour only covers the very first part of the network, but does involve a subterranean boat ride to get to the ‘glowworm grotto’
The boat ride lasted around 30 minutes, and set sail just as the last of the sunlight was going down. Too early for stargazing, it still provided an atmospheric landing on the pier approaching the caves.
Unfortunately, one of the conditions of the trip is that photography or video recording of any kind is not allowed. It’s meant to be an extreme visual sensory experience and as such the glow from lcd screens from hones and cameras would ruin it for everyone. They’d gone to a lot of effort to get the mood and lighting just right, and I for one was happy with the arrangement.
As we landed, there were lots of dim glow lamps lighting the way along the pier and through a short forest to the visitor centre, where we were broken down into group of 11 / 12 (we got grouped with an all American party) and given a brief introduction / explanation of the rules / safety etc.
Primarily, we were told as it was a visual experience, there’d be very little talking. At certain points, the guide would explain certain features in the cave, but as the worms were sensitive to sound it was generally polite to be as quiet as possible for the sake of others.
As we entered the caves, we were greeted by a roar of rushing water. The entire cave network was made of limestone, and the water - when mixed with carbon dioxide from plant life up on the mountains - became slightly acidic. Throughout the millennia this carved out a series of waterfalls and rapids within the cave, and at times, they were quite deafening. The caves themselves were much grander than the ones I’ve been to in the UK; larger, more dramatic, and less… dank.
They weren’t always larger, though. It some points were had to crawl through the caves, as they were less than 4 feet high. This added to the drama though, I thought.
Finally we got to the bit where we had to board a boat, and were told from this point on to be totally quiet, as we were about to enter the glowworm grotto. Naturally, one of the americans didn’t think that applied to him, but was soon told off by the guide.
The glowworms in this case are unique to New Zealand, and are around the size of a matchstick. Their tail end glows a pale blue colour in the darkness when they’re ‘hunting’. In this case, they make a light, hoping that small insects and flies are attracted to it. Like spiders, they hang tiny sticky threads around themselves to catch their prey, then inject them with a venom that literally turns their insides to mush so the glowworm can drink it. The average sandfly would keep a worm going for about 3 days, a moth about 3 weeks.
Inside the grotto there were thousands of them. Entire constellations and galaxies were formed in the grotto, which was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face (I tried). It was truly unique, and probably one of my favourite moments in all of the trip so far. A must see for anyone venturing to the south island, and a reminder that nature can always surprise you. A big cave, large enough for a boat ride, full of tiny glowworms sticking to the ceiling and walls, giving out a pale, eerie blue light. I know my writing isn't doing it enough justice. I’m just glad a saw it.
Finally it was time to return, and this time it was fully dark. Inspired by the glowworms, I went up on top deck of the boat and viewed the Milky Way under another clear night. This time, the light pollution was even less than before, and I think I even got to see some of the milky white ‘nebula’ that give our galaxy it’s name.
Today was all about nature, and it was great.
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