Doubtful Sound and Glow Worm Cave

Friday 9 July 2010

I woke up with a massive sore throat still, but was feeling heaps better. I was ready for the day when I got up. We were going on another tour. This tour was the Doubtful Sound cruise. It is south of the Milford Sound and not as well known, but it is three times as large. The tour was much longer, but I got it for the same price! Research can really come in handy.

We got on the tour bus and picked up a couple people. This was a family owned business, and there was a huge group of people who were going to be late, so we just waited for them. It was kind of annoying. They finally arrived, and we immediately boarded the boat. My ears were still plugged, so it was quite difficult to hear the commentary. This time, I was outside most of the time. I loved being outside and feeling the wind in my face. I love being on boats! The sights were beautiful and Mom and I were really excited, but we realised later, that we were not in Doubtful Sound at all, but Lake Manapouri. We had to go across Lake Manapouri, drive through the Power Station (something we didn't expect to do), drive to the Sound, and then take a boat in the Sound. So we got a bunch of extra things we didn't expect.

Everything around this area was absolutely beautiful. We were in the Fiordlands National Park, and it was stunning. While we were in Doubtful Sound, we got to see dolphins for a second. The driver pointed out several sights. We went up several arms in the Sound. At one point, we stopped and the driver said, "I hate to admit this, but I have been flapping my jaws and wasn't paying attention to where we were going. So I am lost..." It was kind of funny. Its not like he was really lost with his GPS, but still. We floated for a couple of minutes until he got situated. Then we were off again. Apparently, we were going to go out to the Tasman Sea, but the sea was too rough. So he took us around the arms instead. We could see the Tasman sea at least. We don't seem to have much luck when it comes to the Tasman Sea.

There was this island that a family wanted to build their house on. In 1952, this area was considered a National Park, so the family wasn't allowed to build the house on the island. So they put stilts in the water and built it over the water. The government wasn't happy, but they couldn't do anything about it. Now, it is vacant, but is called a Hotel and Cafe. Obviously, they wouldn't get much business. There was another island that a school teacher lived on for three years to study birds, but he went crazy.

We started heading back and arrived to Lake Manapouri. Then we took the boat back and got to the hostel around 5:45. Then we gobbled down our dinner and headed out to our next location. We had another tour at 7:00 (which included more boats). We went to the Glow Worm Cave. We went from Te Anau to the Glow Worm Visiter Centre. Our guide had a soft voice and with all the running water and my ears being plugged, it was quite difficult to hear him. I got the gist of what he was saying, but I struggled.

We only went through a small percentage of the cave, because it would take 2 to 3 days to go through the whole thing. You actually have to have a licence to go through the whole thing. We walked into the cave 2/3 of the way in. There is a walkway, low ledges that he point out with his torch (flashlight) and hand. Through most of the tour, we were not allowed to talk.

Glow worms are more like a fly larva that move around in caves. They make a little net for things to get stuck in (I guess like a spider web). This net is their saliva that is sticky. Their butts are lit up when they are hungry, and bugs get attracted to the light and fly towards it. The hungrier they are, the brighter they glow. The result is the bugs get stuck in the net and the glow worms get their dinner. The glow worms are very aggressive and will attack each other when they get too close. When the larva grows up, it becomes a fly that does not glow. If these flies get disoriented or confused, they can get stuck in a net, and eaten by the glow worm. Weird to think of the younger part of the species feasting on the adult. Anyway, the light of the torch and talking distracts the worms, and they can stop glowing, which is why we need to be quiet.

There was a waterfall that we were over while we waited for the boat. The guide fetched the boat and brought it to us. It was really small and narrow. After we all got in, the guide walked along the two inch boarder of the boat to get to his spot. I thought he was crazy and going to fall in the 3 degree water. Then all the lights turned off, and the guide brought us around the cave. There were thousands of little blue lights all over the place. Some were clustered together and others were by themselves. The best description that I can give is the description Alison gave a couple days ago. It was like being in the Peter Pan ride in Disneyland. You know how you are floating around London and Neverland? All those stars that stick out everywhere? That is what it seemed like, only you couldn't see anything but those stars.

Everything was moving in slow motion. It was surreal and amazing. We stopped at one point and looked at a wall cluster of them. I found myself trying to make the Big Dipper or some odd shapes, animals, or letters out of them, when something distracted me. I saw a glow worm moving across the water. It was so strange and did not make any sense. It started to disappear when I saw another one moving in the same direction. It then dawned on me that it was a second boat and they put a glow on the front and back so the guides would see it and know where to move so they won't crash. So we continued on till we reached the point where we boarded the boat. There was another group that was going on our boat. So we got off, and they went on.

We then boarded the boat back to Te Anau. We had six boat rides today! We arrived at our hostel around 11:00 pm. After all this traveling, tomorrow we have no agenda! See what trouble we can stir up!