Rubin Trek: Glow little glowworm, glimmer, glimmer...

On Monday we took a 1/2 hour boat ride across Lake Te Anau to see the Glowworm Caves. (Actually, the "worms" are maggots, but as the guide said, if it was called Maggot Caves, no one would want to see them.)

On the ride over to the Glowworm Caves

With a guide you walk inside caves that have gushing rivers running beneath the walkway and then we got in a small boat. The guide told us we had to be silent and he pulled the boat by way of a rope overhead in the complete darkness. Above our heads were countless tiny blue/green lights, like constellations of stars in the sky. These are the glow worms shining lights out of their rear ends attracting bugs. (Unfortunately, the worms are sensitive to sound and light, therefore no pictures were allowed.) It was a serene and lovely activity.

In the afternoon, we drove about 10 minutes from Te Anau and walked 3 hours return along the bottom of the Kepler Track which follows Lake Te Anau and meanders through a forest. (The other end of the track is at the top of one of the mountains and we may get to that hike, too, via a helicopter ride.) The weather was gorgeous, the sun shined through the trees, there was no wind...absolute heaven.