Glow Worms & Milford Sound

Glow Worm Caves in Te Anau - 3/4/17 (morning)

After finishing Milford Track, we had an open day in Te Anau to do whatever we wanted. We had already booked a Glow Worm Cave tour months ago for this day. After breakfast, we set off to the Real Journeys tourism office for our tour at 10AM. Upon arrival, we received our tickets and were instructed to wait just outside at the dock for our boat.

The gates opened at 10:15AM, and then we boarded the vessel with about 40 other people. The boat took us on a different part of Lake Te Anau than our previous cruise that took us to the start of the Milford Track. On the ~30 minute cruise, we got to see the mountains that we had hiked on for the Kepler Track from the water. After this section, we passed a few nice bays and mountains before finally landing at a dock on the other side of the coast.

On the cruise as a tour guide gives us info about the itinerary and what we are seeing on the way.

Looking back at part of the Kepler track. We hiked in front of those limestone bluffs you can see.. they are the two grey dots towards the top of that peak.

Nice features past the Kepler Range

After landing, we walked for maybe a minute outside before they immediately began splitting us up in groups, 12 people per tour guide. We were in the first group, so we were the first to go in the cave. The tour guide lead us to a sign to give us the lay of the land and then took us to a photographer to take our photos in front of the cave. After that we had to crouch extremely low to get into the cave. You can get the idea in one of the pictures below.

Area where we landed

Cave map

Time to crouch down and go on in! That's the tour guide.

After this I don't have any pictures. We were not allowed to take them for two reasons: (1) it disturbs the glow worms and causes them not to glow as brightly and (2) safety reasons so that our eyes adjust to the dark properly. We were only using the few lights installed in the cave and were not allowed to use our own light source inside. There were definitely parts where it was quite dim as we moved through and it was a bit difficult to see until our eyes adjusted.

So, since I don't have pictures, here is a list of what it was like to navigate the cave:

• We had to crouch down, almost crawling in parts, for the first 20-30 feet or so, but after that you could basically walk upright for the remainder of the cave.
• The tour guide lead the way, and we followed almost blindly behind her along metal bridges that were built into the rock. There was water running underneath us the whole way. 
• The cave network is actually quite extensive and was formed by the water running from the very top of the mountains, all the way to the coast. We would only be visiting a fraction this cave system. To continue beyond the point that we reached, you would have to scuba the rest of the way.
• The metal causeway lead us against some amazingly cool rock formations and the water had created very cool shapes and large caverns. There were hardly any stalactites & stalagmites since the cave system is actually pretty young. 
• After walking or about 15-20 minutes (including breaks to talk), we got to a body of water. The tour guide shined a headlamp so we could get into a small boat, but once we were all in, she turned it off so it would be pitch black. 
• We floated around for maybe 15 minutes and could see hundreds of glow worms all around above us. It was very cool.. like looking at a night sky. You can sort of get the idea by looking at the photo of the glow worms I posted from the Milford Track. Except, there were so, so many more. 
• After that we backtracked to the front of the cave. We stopped to look at a couple of points of interest. One was to show us a few more glow worms and how they actually create fishing lines below them to catch bugs with. The other was to show us the largest stalactite in the cave.. only a centimeter or two big it appeared. 
• Once we were out, we grabbed a free coffee, did the short (2 minute haha) nature walk, then watched a silent video about glow worms while one of the guides explained what we were seeing.
• After that we just cruised on back to town and were back on shore at about 12:30PM.

All in all, it was well a good use of time because the tour was well setup and the cave & glow worms were impressive to see. 

Milford Sound Cruise - 3/4/17 (afternoon)

A lot of people had been telling us that we simply have to do a cruise of Milford Sound. We thought we'd get a taste of this during our small boat transfer between Sandfly Point and Milford Sound docks (end of Milford Track), but we only barely saw the area. Also, it had been raining that day so everything was extremely clouded in. We decided to do an afternoon cruise with Mitre Peak Cruises, which operates a smaller boat at one of the latest times - 4:30PM. This would allow us to go at a less crowded time and also get closer to the shore as we sailed around the Sound.

We refueled the car, grabbed a quick lunch, then began the ~1:30-2:00 drive to Milford Sound. We passed Te Anau Downs, the Divide (which is where Routeburn Track ends.. we would be starting that 2 days from now), went through Homer Tunnel, then finally arrived at Milford Sound docks. We were a bit early so we did a couple of short nature walks to get some views of the area. 

Pretty cliff near Homer Tunnel

Waiting for our turn to go through the Tunnel. You take turns with the other side since it is one-way and there is even a timer to let you know how long you need to wait.

View of Milford Sound from viewpoint that we climbed up to.

What you can see above.

A much better viewpoint on the longer loop nature walk that is near the cafe.

Close-up with dock on the right-hand side.

Finally it was time for our cruise to begin. We boarded the vessel and pretty much everyone sat on the top deck. It was a bit cloudy but we could still see quite a bit. Also, we were happy to not be getting rained on. After taking in the views of the pretty cliffs for a bit, we grabbed some complimentary coffee on the lower deck. We didn't remain below for long, as the views were much better from the top deck. The only drawback was that it was pretty darn cold and windy! 

This waterfall is near the docks and you can actually walk to the base of it.

This cruise ship followed nearby for a good portion of the cruise.

Cruise ship lagging behind.. it really gives you a sense of scale vs. the size of those cliffs.

We got pretty close to the sides as you can see in this picture.

As you can see, the cliffs were just unreal. This whole area used to be a giant glacier and you can see where the cliffs are scoured from its movement. It was gorgeous to see the vegetation and trees growing from the strangest places and giant waterfalls that were stronger due to the recent rainfall. We sailed until we were in the Tasman Sea... then we did a circle out there and sailed back hugging the other side of the coastline. It feels funny calling it a coast line when there is barely anywhere you could land... more like a cliff line. 

Tasman Sea

Seals! Look at the rock.

Haha nice pose Kevin. We got really close to this waterfall; we were actually right underneath it at one point and the front of the boat was getting misted with water.

Then it started to clear up and we even saw this snow capped peak!

Panorama including the pretty peak

After the cruise was over, we went back to the longer nature walk to get a better picture since the weather was now better. Glad we did! 

Our boat

WOW

Pano at same spot

Even that peak decided to come out and say hi! That is actually Mitre Peak - what the cruise company is named after and the most prominent peak on the postcard pictures of Milford Sound.

We were in high spirits after completely the cruise and doing our last nature walk. This was easily one of the highlights of our trip to New Zealand and one of the most beautiful things we had ever seen. If you ever go to South Island, NZ, don't skip a cruise here!

We then drove back to Te Anau and enjoyed the lovely views on the way back. Time to get ready for Routeburn Track!