Milford Sound and Glowworms!

What a day its been! Our morning began with Curls, a Real Journey’s tour guide picking us up from our hostel to go to Milford Sound. Although we were in a large bus that could fit up to something like 46 people, there were only four of us on the tour; me, Gaia, and a couple from Hartford, Connecticut.

I don’t know exactly how long the ride was to the sound as we made multiple stops to do short walks and to go to the bathroom. One of the first short walks we went on was by Mirror Lake. Before arriving at the sound, we also made many stops to take pictures. We arrived just in time to board our boat for the cruise. It was a rather large boat, one that could accommodate those who were doing and overnight cruise.

For the next two and a half hours we slowly cruised around the sound out to the sea. Milford sound is gorgeous with cliffs scaling twice the height of the Empire State building. There were these slate gray rocks with delicate white streamers coming out of them and at a closer look you realize they are rushing waterfalls. The water all around the sound was an evergreen color.

 

We saw fur seals on large rocks basking in the sun, and at one point, dolphins came and swam by our boat. The boat took us really close to some waterfalls, close enough to feel the spray. At one, there was a vibrant rainbow that spanned the front of our boat. Each color was bright and clear.

For those two and a half hours, Gaia and I just watched in awe as we sailed mountain after mountain. Fiordland is so incredibly green. I have continuously said that New Zealand is all crystal clear green and blue, but Fiordland is much more green than blue. The trees that grow on the high cliffs are evergreen, and throughout the dense bush you can see the infamous tree ferns, making the fiord look like you were back in the dinosaur ages. At the sea we turned around and headed back towards the warf.

 

By then, the sky had cleared and it was quite warm. We boarded are large and predominately empty bus and started to head back towards Te Anau. Along the way we stopped by two 20 minute loop walks. The first walk was to see a chasm, were we saw a gushing waterfall. On the walk back from the chasm walk, I slipped on gravel and scraped my left knee. However, I then saw a kea bird, so I promptly forgot about my stinging knee. Kea birds are so pudgy and cute, and unusually large.

We drove a short distance to our next 20 minute walk which was near a tunnel that we had to drive through to get to the sound. The tunnel was constructed between 1934 and 1954 and is only one lane. On the side of the tunnel we were on, we could see more of those stream like waterfalls flowing through patches of snow. Here, we went on another loop walk and saw interesting flowers and rock formations. We also saw another set of kea birds, about five of them. The keas must have saw the multiple tour buses drive in and wondered if they would get fed. Some keas sat on buses while others fearlessly went up to people. Soon, after realizing they had flown into a herd of Kea paparazzi, they flew away.

Our next stop was at a giant waterfall that we had driven past on the way there but had not stopped to take a look. This waterfall was a brilliant light aquamarine color. While the water was very blue, similar to much of the water in the rest of the country, it was also very clear. There were rocks at the bottom where the waterfall fed into the river and even through the mist and the ripples one can see the rocks incredibly clearly.

We later learned that this water was was pure and clean. We stopped by the riverside to take a drink and fill our water bottles. The water was cold and crispy and did not taste like much, which I presume is a good thing. I am very used to drinking chlorinated water.

Upon arriving back in Te Anau, Gaia and I stopped by at the iSite to book our bus tickets back to Dunedin. We then walked around town for a little bit and heading back to the hostel to eat dinner before going to see the glowworms.

To see the glowworms we first had to take a boat ride across Lake Te Anau, the second biggest freshwater lake in New Zealand. We were told that the water in the lake was also clean enough to drink without filtration, but Gaia and I eyed each other suspiciously and said, “But we’re in a motor boat, on the lake…” Anyways, this water did look incredibly clear, so I wouldn’t worry too much if I needed to drink some of it.

At the caves we were first lead into a room where we got a brief introduction about the cave and about the glowworms. Then we were lead down a 250 meter path into the ground. The guides had been warning us about the low ceiling rocks and made sure we ducked. Other than the entrance, I barely had to duck at all. I guess that is one benefit of being short...

After the path we ended up in a very dark block where all I could see was the little blue lights of the glowworms above me. I could also hear the rushing water underneath me. Minutes later a light came on and we saw a boat full of people emerge from the grotto. We traded places and soon we were on our way to the grotto to see where most of the glowworms were.

It was pitch black, and almost entirely silent. One could only hear the water and once in a while, the boat bump here and there. When looking above it looked like a sky of blue stars, only you knew that they were glowworms.

We moseyed our way back to the path, and out back to the little hut where we started. We were given some tea and coffee and put back on the boat for our ride back to Te Anau. We boarded the boat at around 8:45pm and the sun was still pretty high in the sky. It began to set on our way back and we were able to see the sun shine lower and lower on the mountains and turning the clouds a pink, purple, and orange color. It also made the lake water a blackish color with a ton of silver glistening waves.