TRAVEL TALES | NEW ZEALAND
Where Worms Are Glowing in the Dark
An adventurous day on New Zealand’s South Island
Even after reading about it and seeing pictures of those glowing insects, it still felt unreal to enter the cave in the daytime, walk into its dark depths and then look up to see the ceiling covered in bright shining points of light.
After spending the night on a campsite in town, we woke to an overcast sky next to families on their summer vacation. Packing up our camp after breakfast, we simply stuffed everything into the car before driving down to the shore.
We both had been on several adventures in caves before and were always intrigued by the unknown awaiting us in the dark of a mountain. If it’s narrow crevices one has to squeeze through or water to cross, caves remain fascinating places for explorers and adventure enthusiasts like us.
I had booked us on a glowworm cave tour, the most expensive activity we had done so far down under since most other adventures involved strenuous effort when hiking up the mountains but didn’t cost much or anything at all.
Considering the price of the adventure ahead and the experience one can expect after reading Tim’s story on the trip, I was very much looking forward to the morning while walking next to groups of families with babies and toddlers in tow and women on crutches making me wonder if they all knew what they signed up for.
The first part of the tour took us on a boat across Lake Te Anau, the largest of the southern glacial lakes. Being surrounded by rolling hill country toward the East and magnificent wilderness with lush forests and mountains to the West, this body of water is located in New Zealand’s famous Fiordland National Park and is a World Heritage Site.
After listening to the short safety meeting inside the catamaran, David and I soon escaped the crowds taking the stairs up to the open deck.
Being exposed to the wind and a chill in the air, we were glad about the jackets we had with us and took in all that green surrounding the lake. The shoreline revealed many hidden beaches we dreamt of paddling to and camping on.
While the tour leader was sharing facts and background information on the lake and its surroundings, I had my eyes locked on a small island inside the South Fiord. A small strip of land was connecting two hills covered in lush vegetation with steep slopes of the mountain ranges on the mainland as a backdrop.
While I was lost in thoughts, we neared the pier for our tour and stopped on the shoreline where a lush green temperate forest runs into the deep blue of a lake.
Over 70 passengers now crossed the boardwalk leading into a small sheltered visitor office where the guides each would take 12 people at a time to enter the cave.
While the first group was on its way, we listened to a local explaining about the cave and its surrounding landscape. A cave that is geologically still active getting carved out deeper and deeper by water rushing through.
Also, it was here in these forested mountains surrounding Lake Te Anau that the largest flightless bird in New Zealand, thought to be extinct, was found. The takahē is an endangered bird endemic to the island nation and today approximately 500 animals are left.
Babies were crying and toddlers speaking and we wondered if the parents would take those young children into the darkness of the cave where visitors should practice and experience silence.
The next guide was heading into the cave and we carefully watched who got up to follow him. Not seeing any children younger than ten years old, we quickly responded when the guy was saying he had space for two more people.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against children or traveling with children. But I don’t think it’s fair toward them and other travelers to take crying babies and scared toddlers into a cave where no lights are being carried and one is encouraged to experience silence.
A few more steps in daylight and we were ducking down for the entrance of the cave. David and I had a good laugh as we were the last ones and the guide had stopped to say “caution very slippery” to the person behind him which was then passed on from each visitor to the next. By the time it reached us, all we got to hear was “very, very”. The magic of repeating words.
Either way, we got the message and also bent down to enter the cave where the rock was only about a meter above the ground. A metal staircase and boardwalk were erected allowing us to walk above the water.
Yes, fast-flowing water was rushing through the cave creating an incredibly loud noise. Few other sounds were to be heard and whenever the guide stopped to explain more about the cave, one had to stand still and listen carefully to understand every word.
Photography wasn’t allowed inside the cave as the use of flashlights does damage to the glow of the worms and visitors have proven over the years of not being capable of taking pictures without turning the flash off.
Oh well, that’s just us. Humans, never showing enough respect for nature. At least the regulations still allow us to enter the cave but just not with photography in mind.
We heard and felt a constant dropping sound from the cave’s ceiling and just assumed it was water dripping down but pulled the hood of our jackets quickly over our heads when the guide was explaining how the worms create strings hanging off the rocks filled with saliva, puke and other body fluids to get prey stuck inside.
Don’t need no glowworm puke on my head.
Passing a spectacular waterfall inside the cave next to a tiny crack in the rock, we were lectured on how this cave just a few thousand years ago was as narrow as that crack. The power of water created hollow spaces we were now moving around in.
While we had been walking so far on lightly lit walkways above the water, we now reached a crucial point of our expedition. The first glowing blue dots were to be seen just centimeters from our eyes on the cave’s ceiling and all light was turned off after we stepped into and sat down in a boat.
When the light was turned off I suddenly felt the darkness, but not for long as the space above my head and the walls on my sides were quickly lighting up in hundreds of blue dots as my eyes adjusted to the new surroundings.
It seemed unreal, to be here in daytime hours and having what appeared to be a sky of stars above my head. Like carefully placed fairy lights, the worms on the rock were decorating the inside of the cave.
Those lights were giving us a vague idea of how small this relatively young cave was while we were being pulled through the darkness. The guide, sitting at the front of the boat was grabbing a rope above our heads to pull the boat and all the people inside of it across the shallow water and through the channels.
At some spots the cave was so narrow, the boat was scratching on the rock surface but we were told the boats were made for that and shouldn’t worry.
Nobody was talking and nobody was moving. The only sound to be heard was the rushing of the river and the occasional bang when the sides of the boat hit the rock wall.
I put my head far back to look at the glowworms hanging off the ceiling and quickly lost any sense of time, space and movement. I no longer knew if we were moving forward, had turned around, or didn’t move at all. It was kind of eerie.
Having my hands folded on my knees as instructed to not get them cut off at the edge of the boat, I sat frozen in movement with open eyes when a drop hit my face and I quickly remembered the saliva and other liquids and closed my eyes in disgust.
The deeper we traveled into the cave, the further the sound of the rushing water traveled but the more dampened it appeared. We floated for a while on a wider stretch of water with no noticeable movement of the boat and only through looking at the blue dots on the walls next to me, I could grasp we were in fact heading somewhere.
I didn’t know how or where we turned around inside that narrow cave but eventually, we saw a faint light in the distance we were nearing. The glowworms still shining next to us, I was at peace.
Walking out of the cave was an unreal feeling seeing daylight all of a sudden again. Back in the forest, the guide explained some more about this very special environment, showed us a tree avalanche in the woods and admitted we had been tricked. In some way.
Those glowworms aren’t worms, they are maggots. But who would want to see glowing maggots? So for the sake of business, the insects were renamed. If maggots or worms, their incredibly bright light inside the darkest places of a cave were fascinating to see.
Soon, the catamaran arrived with the next load of tourists and we jumped aboard to head back to Te Anau. My plan for the day wasn’t over yet as I intended on camping in these very wild forests. So we drove a few kilometers further South after a light lunch in town and parked the car at the famous Kepler Track, one of many multiple-day hikes in New Zealand.
Having only one night left, we had no intentions of heading up into the mountains but wandered through the thick beech forest on a well-maintained trail to the shores of Lake Manapouri.
Crossing one of two bridges on the trail, I stopped midway to look into the water and was surprised to see a big eel swimming in the shallow stream. I called back David and we both watched the creature for a few minutes before other hikers arrived and required us to free the bridge.
We ventured on a short side trail offering an open view across a wetland and small pond where a few beautifully colored flowers were blooming in the mud.
Despite taking it slow and stopping every few meters to listen to a unique bird song, admiring the lichens, moss and other vegetation growing on the forest floor and hanging off branches, we now reached the family who started just before us.
They had stopped in the middle of the track and were searching in their packs for snacks and whatever but blocking the entire width of the trail. None of them even made the slightest effort to move aside or say an apology.
Squeezing past them, David almost got hit in the face by a stick one of the boys had in his hands and we exchanged looks knowing what the other was thinking.
Of course, I knew which nationality they were and this is why the country receives often a bad reputation when traveling overseas. An arrogant and ignorant behavior is never received well.
I don’t say one shouldn’t stop when hiking, we do that a lot, but especially if you are a large group walking on a busy trail that is rather broad with two meters in width or more, make sure people can pass you at all times.
But this didn’t dampen my mood as I knew they wouldn’t be near us that night as we now turned off the circular Kepler Track and headed for the beach of Lake Manapouri.
The skies were partly blue with scattered clouds above us but rainfilled walls hung above the mountains on the far end of the lake. More precipitation was predicted for the night and the evening ahead but this didn’t worry us at all.
Walking further down the beach, we scouted out potential camping grounds. Knowing about the stormy wind predicted for the evening, we knew not to set up the tent in the sand as the pins would have been blown out of the soft ground with the lightest breeze.
We eventually agreed on a protected spot behind a line of bushes underneath some young and healthy trees. Yes, it is very important to look up as well before pitching the tent as falling branches or entire trees can create danger and cause severe damage.
We did spot one tree in a distance far enough away which might drop that night but the trees around our selected spot all appeared healthy and strong.
We noticed how strong the winds were when a drizzle of rain reached us just as we finished setting up the tent while still blue skies were above us. Yes, those drops of water traveled far from the nearest rain-filled cloud.
After doubling up the pins and ropes ensuring the tent was tied down sufficiently, we walked further on the beach admiring this pristine wilderness.
It rained all evening long in the mountains ahead of us but we stayed mostly dry and were gifted with a spectacular sunset scene before heading inside our tent for the night.
When I put the fairy lights up to decorate and light up the entrance of the tent, I had to think back at the glowworms we saw in the caves. It wasn’t nearly as dark yet and the worms also gave off a very different feeling compared to my artificial lights. And yet, they remind me of each other.
I had hoped to see some stars that night but the clouds were blocking the view, so I fell asleep thinking of glowing lights shining bright like the stars at night.
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