Te Anau Glow Worm Cave

After our Jet Boat ride, we drove to Te Anau.  Te Anau is a small town on Lake Te Anau but is the stopping point/hub of Fiordland National Park and and a Glow worm cave.  We boarded a boat to ride across Lake TeAnau and hike up to a cave where glow worms live.  Once inside the cave we walked along a river until we got in little boats to see the glow worms.  It must be pitch dark and we had to be silent while in the cave.  It was very interesting, but we couldn't see the worms up close as we had seen on the Minnehaha trail.  We were glad we had done both though, the trail and the cave.

Ava, Alyssa, and Savannah in front of the giant Kiwi Bird at the boat dock before boarding our cruise across the lake.

On our way to the trail

Back on the boat after our hike/boat ride in the cave and two presentations on the glow worms.  Super interesting!!  They are such a unique insect.

The picture below are the professional pictures that we bought of our tour.  You can't take pics inside the cave because it is DARK and there is no way to see them up this close.

You can see the glowing dot on the above picture.  The back end of worm glows to attract it's dinner.

The trail inside the cave before you board the boats.

A waterfall inside the cave.

You can see on the above map where Te Anau is in New Zealand.

And the above picture is just a picture of a picture but had to include it because thee girls LOVED the poem!!  They recited it over and over the rest of the evening.  Ha!!

Lake Matheson and Minnehah trail (glow worms)

Lake Matheson is a small lake outside of the Fox Glacier township that is a popular destination for sightseers due to the amazing reflection that you can see of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman when the lighting is right and the lake is glassy and smooth.  We went near dusk to see if we could catch a picture.  By this time we had already hiked the girls our on our Franz and Fox glacier hikes and Alyssa's feet were hurting and Ava was getting burned out.  So, after about 15 min, they were burned out and I had to turn around back to the tourist area with them for a rest.  Brady, Kayla and Savannah did the walk out to the lookout point for some pictures. Without the slow people, they were able to fast walk it and get there in back really quickly.  Luckily I had the key to the car, my wallet and a gift shop open!!  Yeah for souvenirs.

A picture of a selfie...

...the selfie!

A triple selfie!!!

The champion hikers!!  We probably did  8 miles that day.

Not a lot of pictures of this activity as it was PITCH DARK (which is impossible to get an unblurry picture in).  We were on a trail called the Minnehaha track.  Brady had researched this trail and knew we had to have a few headlamps, but that we had to hike with them off.  In order to see the glow worms, it has to be dark.  This picture is of us looking at a bunch of the glow worms on a tree.  They are so tiny but put off a glow and can be seen very easily.  They put off this glow from their end to attract bug to get caught in their slimy trap to eat.

Here is a picture from the internet of glow worm slim traps.  They spit these long strings out which catch prey.  They slide along the top of these traps and their end glows attracting the bugs.  This picture makes it look big, but they are very small.

After our long day, we were exhausted and headed back to our little motel called the Pine Grove Motel.  Out in the middle of nowhere, no cell service, no wifi.  But great when you're TIRED!!

The next morning we slept in and Brady got up EARLY as the water in a nearby river was calling his name.  He didn't catch anything but loved trying just the same..... 

 Now heading through the Haast Pass.