Te Anau Glow Worm Caves

I wasn't entirely sure I was going to do this when I got here, but I did. I am not really that great in caves and really dark places, and especially not together. I decided that since it was out of my comfort zone and freaking me out a bit I should really do it, so I did.

We took a half hour boat ride on beautiful Lake Te Anau to get to the little hut. They gave us a safety briefing, took a touristy picture of us and then off we went ducking to get in. You have to duck under a massive rock to get in. You duck many more times throughout but you never have to crawl which made me happy.

One of the first things they tell you is that you are 30m below the rock and that the cave is still forming and relatively young in geological terms, not the greatest things to hear when you are in a seismically active place.
The water when you get inside is rushing at such a rapid pace against the rocks that you have a hard time hearing the guide which is why they don't talk much in the cave. Eventually after some stunning rock you get to the boats. You have to be quiet because noise affects the glow worms. After you get in the boat it goes completely dark, can't see your hand in front of your face dark, but then you begin to see them. Little dots all over the ceiling that make it look like the night sky. It was pretty interesting. The guide is literally holding onto a chain pulling you around the grotto so you bump into the rock a bit. After some viewing time you come back out of the grotto and start to walk back. There are a few more spots to see on the way out and then you are back to the little house lodge. All told you are only in the cave for about 40 minutes which is just fine with me.

Back at the lodge there are some displays to read and they do a short presentation which I thought was pretty informative. I was really glad I did it, but I am not sure if I would do it again. I don't know maybe I would.

On the way back it was sunset and we got the most amazing view being out on the lake. It was an added bonus to the trip. I took the 430 boat but the one right after it would get a good view of the sunset too.








Sawrah

2 comments:

  1. Very good for you, you did it. Sounds like it may have been a little hair- scary but glad you did go. You are there and you should do it! keep posting when you can. love mumz

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  2. Everything about this post makes me nervous...glad you did it though ;)

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