Total darkness

First, an addition to yesterday: I just wanted to mention that I didn't have any muscle soreness from the hike, either because of the hot whirlpool and magnesium or because I'm not as untrained anymore.

Finally, a chance to sleep in. No rush for breakfast. Even though it's nice to sit down at a set table. Although in Queenstown, in addition to the early breakfast window, there was also a simple or meager breakfast.

Today was different. Sleeping in, then fruits with yogurt, a boiled egg, toast, sausage and cheese, and honey. Delicious.

A sunny day awaits us. The sky is cloudless and shining blue, with just a few small wispy clouds. Such a day calls for activities. Besides the fjord tours (we'll do those tomorrow), one thing you must visit here are the glowworm caves. And I have to say, it's the best and creepiest experience of this trip so far, for me.

After a 25-minute boat ride across Lake Te Anau, which, by the way, is the largest lake on the South Island and the second largest in New Zealand, we reach the cave system.

By the way, photography was not allowed, so the following photos were taken illegally.

With a total length of 6.7 km, only the first 250 meters are accessible to visitors.

And they were truly impressive. Even the entrance was amazing, a walk through mossy walls,

then a need to duck your head.

The path leads over a roaring stream

to an underground cathedral, a waterfall

and a whirlpool. An incredible noise level. It reminds me a bit of the white water installations in the Center Parcs. It's fascinating to see how fast and in what quantity the water flows through the cracks and underground streams.

Then we reach a boat. Carsten and I are always the last ones, as usual, and this time we have to sit at the back of the boat. The two of us, two whoppers. It's amazing the boat didn't tip over. And then it got eerie and beautiful at the same time. Everyone is in the boat, the deafening sound of water rushing next to you. The lights go out. It's pitch black, so dark you can't even see your hand in front of your face. The only lights are on the ceiling and the walls.

Slowly, the boat starts moving. Bumping into the walls here, scraping over a rock there. The glowworm lights are as small as pins 📍. They shimmer in green, blue, and white. And it's pitch black. Since our earthquake experience, I always wonder what it would be like if an earthquake happened right now. An underlying fear accompanies me. Not cool, you know.

20 minutes in this darkness, only the little lights, the now quiet sound of water, and the gentle rocking of the boat, creepy.

We leave the cave the same way we entered.

It was indescribably amazing. I'm totally blown away. After the cave tour, we had a lecture about the glowworms while having tea/coffee.

The glowworms are long larvae that live in the crevices of the cave. They produce long sticky threads that hang down from the ceiling. With the small light inside their bodies, the larvae attract insects that get stuck on the sticky threads and then get eaten by the larvae. The larvae later turn into mosquitoes.

Knowing all this makes it even creepier. Still, a real highlight.

The cave visit is followed by Day 2 of Frisbee Golf. We're getting excited because we're now proud owners of a starter frisbee set, consisting of a driver, an approach, and a putter disc. From now on, it's uphill all the way.

So, I've gone from being 41 over par yesterday to 18 over par after 9 baskets today. The next 9 baskets were just average. We'll have to give it another go tomorrow. But it was still a lot of fun. From now on, we'll play frisbee golf wherever we can.

We also managed to catch the sunset today. Well, almost. There were definitely no clouds in the sky, but we finished eating too late and the sun had already gone behind the mountain. Tough luck, but as Carsten says, the hour after, the blue hour, is just as beautiful.