Before heading off to Queenstown we had one last thing to explore in Te Anau this morning; the glow worm caves over the lake. By 8.30am we were on a boat heading that way and the sun was even burning off the clouds, resulting in a beautiful sunlit atmosphere across the lake.
As it happens we met up with John, our tour guide from yesterday, on the boat as he was heading out to explore the far out of bounds caves with the Department of Conservation.
Some of the caves were formed millions of years ago although the end that we visited was only 12,000 years old. Once we landed at the lakeside we ducked into the low hanging caves, hopped in a boat and tucked in our head and limbs as we succumbed to the darkness. The little boat trip in the cave took about 15 minutes during which the only light was created by the glow of the worms that live there. There were thousands of them and the effect was like a stunningly clear starlit sky. Unfortunately you cannot take photos so that's why none are included.
While we were waiting for the others to have their turn in the cave we sat in the lakeside cabin and learned about how the worms use their glow to attract flies into the sticky threads they dangle below them. Apparently once the worms hatch they only have a two day life cycle of solid mating before they die. And often they don't even make it this far as often they hatch and fly straight into theirs or another worms sticky fishing lines!
Back on land we had a coffee and cake to soak in the Te Anau cafe culture, did some top up shopping and got back on the road. We only had a couple of hours to do today and so we took it leisurely and stopped for a picturesque picnic and then at some scenic lookouts on the way into Queenstown.
We arrived early afternoon, checked into the in giant in town campsite and headed straight off to watch maniacs jump off a the Karawa Bridge. This is a world famous bungy bridge and was great to see how public the jumps were. People are mad.
See below for evidence (and look out for the ginger headed man who is watching from the bridge).
Then it was back to camp for a couple of beers in the sunshine and a nice reheated curry from the night before... There might even be a drink for us in town tonight if we are feeling crazy!
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