6:00am wake up call... 7:00am breakfast and bags out... 8:00am departure... It is a pretty loose schedule primarily because of many senior citizens.
Today, we stopped over at
Larnack Castle, the only castle in New Zealand. The Barker family purchased a mansion from the Williams in 1967, renovated it and opened the castle to the public. We had a morning tea at Ballroom Cafe. It has Larnack Lodge and Stable for stay. It also has a 320 meter high tower where you can have a panoramic view of the bay and 220 meter high cliff.
We had a lunch stop at Gore, a small town of 12,000 inhabitants. At the entrance, there was a big trout statue. The 44km road from Clinton to Gore is nicknamed the Presidential Highway. You can find a lot of Romneys (sheep) and bushes on the way. Obviously, they trump. So hilarious!!!
 |
| Romney |
On the way we watched a movie titled "The Word's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins riding the Indian motorbike that looked unsuitable even for the race, breaking the world records. He is a Kiwi from Intercargill, a small town that is not too far from the road we were driving. It was an appropriate movie for the leg of our journey.
The green pasture was so green that just looking outside was good enough for dusting off any stress and getting healed.
No wonder there is a saying that made senses:
"It is Australia that brings people down under and it is New Zealand that brings them back."
Of course, it must have come from New Zealand.
We stayed at
Te Anau, a small town that is the entrance to Fjorlands.
We went to visit
Te Anau Caves where you can watch glowing worms. First found in 1948, this cave is now one of major attractions in the area. The cave entrance can be under water during a heavy rain season. Inside the cave, we heard and saw gushing water stream that is clean enough for drinking, the guide said. Glowing worm's net is usually 10 cm long and can hold up to 15g of its prey. Several of this crystal looking net is hung down from the ceiling and the worm glows its body part to attract the preys such as flies and moths. Once caught, the worm pulls the net up to eat the prey. A fly can be means for 2-3 days and a moth for 2-3 weeks. To make the attracting effective, the glowing worms tend to cluster together. They can be hostile to unwanted fellow glowing worms. We saw a video clip where one glowing worm eats the other. After eating a lot of meals, the worm turns into a cocoon that will hatch into a flying insect that looks like a mosquito but only to lay eggs for the multiplication purpose. It will take 21 days for the eggs to hatch into the worms that will need to eat a lot to sustain themselves.
To get to the Te Anau Caves, we took a boat on the lake. It was a refreshing short tour. But on the way over there, we saw a rainbow that looked beautiful.
The inside the cave was charcoal dark and we had to stay calm throughout the boat tour. It was so dark that we kissed and nobody noticed. I think.
One of the birds that the Kiwis talk a lot about is Takahe. They say that there are only 347 in the world. Apparently they are not very smart and die with stupidity. They thought the birds were extinct, but found them and have been breeding them up to now. The town had a statue of Takahe.
The dinner was very satisfying with green mussels, kimchi and excellent desert bar. - Jeffrey
No comments:
Post a Comment