The Alpine Parrot

To Milford Sound, New Zealand

Te Anau sits on a typical New Zealand lake -- huge, blue and beautiful. One of the town’s claims to fame is the nearby underground cave inhabited by unique glow worms. As part of our glow worm tour, we got to sail across the lake to where the underground river empties out from the mountain into the lake.

The famous glow worms, we learned, are actually inch and a half long clear larvae of a gnat, which lives in the pitch black darkness of the cave. They survive by dropping sticky silk threads from the cave ceiling and illuminating their tails to attract insects. Once entangled, they pull up their prey and make a meal of it. Not a very lovely thought, but the tiny glowing greenish spots of light scattered above the river on the cave walls was magical.

Silk glow worm threads

River rushing through the cave

After the tour and a late breakfast in town, Meg, Dex, Kylie and I went to see a local movie called Shadowlands. It was a short, half hour, non-verbal film featuring breathtaking images of the New Zealand fjordlands and shot from a helicopter over the course of four years. I thought it was spectacular though Kylie was disappointed as there were no words.

Since our destination for the day was Milford Sound, we had quite a way to go. The drive was incredibly scenic, especially as we got closer to park. New Zealand continues to amaze with it's wide open spaces, scenic valleys, meadows and mountains.

The woman at one of the shops in Te Anau had given us some recommendations for places to stop along the way, which gave us a good excuse to stretch our legs at Mirror Lake and Lake Marion.

Then, as we reached the mountain summit heading into the Milford Sound National Park, we saw for the first time one of the famous endemic New Zealand birds -- the Kea. This, apparently, is the world's only alpine parrot. They birds were particularly interested in the few cars parked on the side of the road and a couple were totally obsessed with tearing off bits of weather stripping on one van. The Kea is actually considered one of the smartest of all animals, some equating their intelligence to that of primates. In videos, we've seen them figuring out how to move levers, pins, pulleys, and even turn large screws with their beaks to get to food.

Our campground was nestled next to the river and under some huge trees.  With the cicadas shrilling loudly, we carried the cooking supplies to the kitchen. We've really appreciated the nice facilities in most of the campgrounds -- multiple stoves, sinks and tables -- making it unnecessary to actually cook in the van. For the evenings entertainment, Dex and Kylie demonstrated their special card trick (learned in Laos) to Aunt De Ann before we launched into a few rounds of Hearts.  To Meg’s annoyance, I ended the game with only two points. Another fantastic day, and with stars peaking through the trees, it looks like we may have a brilliant Milford Sound cruise in the morning.