New Zealand - Te Anau and the Glow Worms

From Dunedin, we headed to Te Anau and a visit with the world famous Glow Worms.  The Te Anau area was really neat, with a great downtown area and lots of shops and restaurants.  Additionally, it is known as one of the hiking capitals of New Zealand, with tons of walking trails.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time for a hike this day.

More sheep to entertain us on our way.

Lake Te Anau

The only Kiwi we saw during our visit to New Zealand.

A Fiat on display in front of an Italian restaurant.  I think our Anna has grown up!

On the way to the glow worms.  About a 30 minute boat ride to a cave.  The cave is in a mountain that has restricted access as it is there to protect a species of ground bird that lives no where else in the world.  Oh yeah, and it was rainy and cold for this boat ride as well.

Oh yeah, this is what the endangered bird looks like.

The visitors center for the Glow Worms

So, for a visit to the glow worms, you take a short hike through the caves, and then sit on a small boat (about 12 people at a time) and go through the caves in pitch darkness, except for the little glow worms that are glowing above our heads.  A very interesting experience, but not all the girls LOVED it.

The following four pictures were not taken by us (no cameras allowed), but does let you see what the experience was like.