Off to Te Anau

Hello,

At the campsite in Te Anau, the nice lady at the reception showed us many possibilities of what to do here and gave us brochures to read. We then decided to take a boat tour to a glowworm cave. We did that the next day. We took a 30-minute boat ride around the lake to reach the cave. When we arrived at the cave, we were divided into small groups of 14 people each. Inside the cave, everything was dark with only short sections illuminated. We were not allowed to take pictures or speak loudly, as it could disturb the glowworms and prevent them from lighting up. There was even a 10-minute boat ride entirely in the dark inside the cave!!! The glowworms were very beautiful to see, and there were many of them. However, after having seen glowworms several times now, we can draw the following "expert" conclusion: You can do it, but you don't have to. For example, in Fox Glacier, we could see the glowworms better and in all their glory, not just as a colored dot. Of course, we also met Germans, which is not difficult anymore... there are actually many Germans here.... The next day, we looked at the brochures and decided to drive to Milford Sound in the Fiordland of New Zealand. There was an offer for a 2.5-hour kayak tour with a 2-hour boat tour and lunch on the boat. Unfortunately, this tour was fully booked for the next day, so we had to extend our stay at the campsite for another night and booked the combo tour for the next available day. (There will be a separate entry for Milford Sound). After our trip to Milford Sound, we met Julia and her little brother (the Germans mentioned before) again at the campsite. They recommended the first part of the Kepler Track to us. The Kepler Track is a hiking trail that is usually designed to take 3 days, because first, it is 60 km long, and second, you have to climb a few vertical meters. There are several huts on the track, but you have to book in advance to be able to complete the entire track. Unfortunately, these huts were already fully booked for November and December. However, it is possible to hike individual stages of the Kepler Track as day trips. This way, you can hike the beginning and the end of the track. We read and heard that there is an annual "Kepler Run". All athletes run the track in one (!!!) day!!!! For the first part to the first hut and back, it took us 5 hours, which we think is not bad at all, considering it is about 27 km and about 1500 vertical meters. However, we jogged back down, because I (Christina) really needed to use the bathroom... :D Another piece of information about the "Kepler Run" also shocked us, because there is a second route that athletes can run if they don't want/can't run the full 60 km, and it is exactly the same route we walked. The shocking thing is that someone completed the same route that took us 5 hours in 1 hour and 50 minutes :O we weren't even at the top yet...!!! After the track, I was dead, and when we arrived at the campsite, it was so busy that we had to find a spot to cook and sit. At home, it would have been peaceful :D We went straight to bed after dinner. The next day, we went to the wildlife park, which was only 10 minutes away. We strolled through it, looked at the birds, and continued driving towards Invercargill.