-Chapter 39- Glowworm Tour & Treat in Queenstown

Although we were treated mostly overly friendly by the people in New Zealand, we also had experiences with such unfriendly people that we still can't believe it. Above all, there is the situation when we came out of Maketu Road in Te Puke and a white Jeep followed us. He followed us into a side street and blocked our way. A super creepy old man got out, motioned for us to roll down the window, and held a sermon with us with his head in our car about stopping on the roadside if we were to stop other drivers again in the future. He insulted us and spat some angry words at us in German because he thought we were driving too slow. I don't think you would experience something like that in Germany. In addition, the drivers in New Zealand don't hesitate to honk their horn. We can't even remember how many times we were honked at. Once a driver even showed us the middle finger because we blinked too late, and Flori was shown a fat middle finger for no reason while he was parking in Christchurch. In Hawera, we were thrown out of a campsite at 10:04 a.m. and in the campsite in Te Anau, we apparently parked too close to an old man's car, who asked Flori if he could move the car. When Flori replied that it wasn't his car, the guy said, "Then I'll just destroy the car." So we looked for another spot first. The campsite was great otherwise. Te Anau is the gateway to Milford Sound, the largest and most beautiful national park in New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was closed due to flooding when we were there. Nevertheless, we had a great time in Te Anau.

In the evening, we did a glowworm tour, which I had been looking forward to before we even arrived in New Zealand.

For this, we were taken across the huge Lake Te Anau on a catamaran. The crossing took about half an hour. On the other side of the lake, apart from countless Asians, several guides were waiting for our boat. In groups of 12, we were led into the caves by the guides, which were often so low that we had to duck. We also walked on grids over an underground stream that fought its way through the caves in waterfalls. The guide explained something about the caves or the glowworms every few meters and showed us their silvery webs. After a few minutes, we were so deep into the caves that we couldn't see our own hand in front of our eyes. The first glowworms appeared, and the guide told us that we had to be completely silent now. Then he disappeared into the darkness and came back a minute later paddling a small boat. He showed everyone the way inside by balancing on the edge of the boat and started pulling us through the cave with ropes attached to the walls. (At least I think so. The guy could also have fallen overboard because we couldn't see or hear him at all). Everyone really kept quiet. Every now and then we hit cave walls with the boat, or the ceiling looked so close that we thought we would hit our heads against it at any moment. But nothing happened. For 15 wonderful minutes, we saw absolutely nothing, except for hundreds of glowworms on the ceiling. I think that was unforgettable for all of us.

Treat in Queenstown

On the way back from Te Anau to Queenstown, we spent two more nights in Lumsden. That was the time when we received a lot of food as gifts. In Ashburton, an older couple left us two large boxes of still packaged pasta, cider, and spices as they were leaving. In Te Anau, someone put expensive cheese for free in the refrigerator, in Lumsden, a resident gave away pickles, and the next day a box of leftover stuff from the bakery went around.

After Te Anau, we drove back to Arrowtown, where we left the hearse for the next few days. Then we just needed a parking garage for our car. We found a good one that seemed to be like the one in Wellington. (We were directed down a street by Google Maps that was as steep as a roller coaster). Fully loaded, we checked into the hostel, went back to the really lively city in the evening, and watched a horror movie at night.

We took it easy on my birthday, Celina and I strolled through the shops in the afternoon and got fish & chips. In the evening, we went to the cable car, which took us up to a viewpoint high above Queenstown. All in all, a very nice day.