Once we got to the cave they gave a brief presentation about the Glowworms. They're not actually worms when they're glowing, they're larva. They spend most of their life in this larva state- about 9 months. Once they reach adulthood they only live a few days, up to 4. This is because they don't have much of a digestive track and mostly just live off of stored energy until they die of starvation. But anyway, they glow when they are larva because that's how they attract food. The hungrier they are the brighter they glow in hopes of attracting insects that have wandered into the cave.
The first part of our cave tour was walking. They took us through different underground corridors and cavern areas which were interesting all by themselves. This particular cave is really young so it doesn't have any stalagmites or stalactites. They showed us the biggest one they have and it's about 3 cm and only about 300 hundred years old. There were also a few underground rivers and waterfall areas which were neat to see.
After the walk portion they took us to their underground boat landing and guided us onto the boat. The tours only have 12 people so the boat is pretty small, and they have to help us on since it's really dark. Then they guide the boat along via a rope-and-pull system. At this point it's pitch black except for the glowworms on the ceiling above our heads. They are arranged in clusters and there are so many of them it looks like you're looking at all of the stars in the night sky. I've never experienced anything like it. Unfortunately they don't allow photography since the flash disturbs the glowworms so I don't have any pictures for you all.
It was also weird that the lack of sensory input forced me to take a step back. Sitting on that boat in the complete darkness such that I couldn't even see Matt's face even though I was practically sitting on his lap and the water rushing around so loud it drowned out everything else it occurred to me how bizarre it was that I was deep in a cave in New Zealand surrounded by strangers. It was one of those weird existential moments like, how did I get here? I'm sitting here looking at worms glowing on the ceiling of a cave. Life is crazy! Anyway, we'll save that topic for another day.
After our return boat ride we made our way back to our hotel and had some lunch. We planned to hike around the Circle Track this afternoon, but that first starts with taking a water taxi across the river. We thought the taxi only crossed at certain hours so we waited until 3 to go but once we got there it turns out it was more of an on-demand service and quite a bit more pricey than we were expecting. So we decided against that and instead enjoyed one of the many free walks around. So we did a quick walk through the woods until we got to Fraser's Beach and we hung out there for a bit just enjoying the weather and water.
Then we enjoyed some dinner at a local Italian place (my choice!) and returned to our room to rest and plan our next adventures. Oh, we also tried a kiwano fruit that we bought at the grocery store a few days ago. The outside was prickly but after we cut it open it was mostly little pods with seeds in them, similar to passion fruit. But after taking a bite it really reminded us more of a cucumber.
We head back to Queenstown tomorrow! Updated with pictures!
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