Glowworms and Kea-aggghhhs

Today was a long day. We got up early and had breakfast in the old bath house on the lake front in Queenstown. It was a lovely place, with friendly service (it was cold though) and I got porridge! so I was happy. We saw black backed gulls, black shags and grebes swimming on the lake while we ate breakfast. There were some young girls feeding the ducks and gulls. They had two dogs with them, a black and white collie and a Jack Russel pup. The birds would cluster around the girls for bread and, when there were loads of them, the girls would set the collie on them. It was a bit mean, but the birds were fine and the dog just barked at them and stole their bread. After breakfast we collected the Monsters photos of rafting and then we went on our way because we had a long drive ahead of us. The Monster took the first leg, which was about 2hrs drive to Te Anu. We arrived just in time to catch the 2pm boat to the glow worm caves. I will as little nervous getting on the boat, as usual (might slip between that narrow gap you know) but the boat trip was very pleasant with lovely views of the lake. The Takahe, a large flightless bird lives in the hills around the lake. There are only about 300 left in the wild. (I want to put in a correction here. I'm always calling a weika a moorhen, it is actually a woodhen). We arrived at the glowworm caves and there was a long metal walkway over the sea to a little hut in the forest. I found it very scary and raced along it. Once in the hut we were split into groups and sent into the caves in 10 minute intervals. I've never been in a cave before and i didn't know what to expect. We were the third group into the caves. We had Curtis, a trainee on this 3rd day on the job, and Peter, a grey haired veteran. Going into the caves the ceiling got really low, but I didn't mind that so much because it didn't go on for very long and I didn't have to bend as low as the Monster. I didn't like the metal walkways above the roaring water, however, or the feeling of all the rock above me and I wanted to turn back. The thought of seeing the glowworms spurred me on though. After a short walk along terrifying platforms and up scary stairs, we arrived at the glowworm cavern. They have dammed the fast flowing river and made a quiet pool where the guides pull flat bottomed boats through the cavern with ropes. The boat shook a lot when I got on, but once I found my seat I was OK. They turned off all the lights and it was dark. I found it really peaceful. The glowworms were incredibly beautiful. I thought they were like Christmas lights shining specially for God. The awesome nature of creation overwhelmed me. I don't know if it was the ordeal of getting to this cavern, of the sheer beauty, but I was close to tears. I would have quite happily stayed there staring at the lights for the rest of my life. They really did look like the stars, clustered together in constellations and throbbing with different intensity. The fact that they are essentially a maggot, pulsing to attract prey, didn't diminish their beauty in the least. All too soon the boat ride was over and I had to make my way back to the surface, which was even scarier as I could now see where I was going! The walk back to the boat was no problem after the dangers of the cave. We played brain train on the boat ride. We had lunch in Te Anu, the weather was lovely. I drove on the second leg of the journey, to Milford Sound. The scenery was totally spectacular. Snowy, icy mountains stood out from flat land turned purple with lupins. I don't think the Monster was that taken with it, but I was blown away. I was very disappointed when we reached Milford Sound, it didn't look like much and you had to go through a mountain to get to it. There were two lodges and a cafe bar and that was it. We got the emergency room in one of the lodges, which wasn't too bad, and ate dinner at the cafe, which I didn't like. The highpoint of Milford Sound was a pair of wild keas nesting in the trees right outside our room. They called throughout the night - KEa-agggggh! Tonight I got brain age 20 for the first time! I am thrilled.