Ali goes up a mountain and goes down a cave.

---

It's my adventurous day again, but this time I'm taking exploration over physical exhertion. 
An early start sees me up and, thanks to Richard and Ester, well fed and by 8am I am standing beside a landing stage overlooking the wide expanse of lake Te Anau in the early morning light. I'm waiting for my bus and guide to take me the 120km into the fiordland national park and part of the world heritage site.
I form part of a small group, middle aged ladies and gentlemen from around the world ,filling the stereotype of those who play bridge, a description my mother hates me using. They are a nice bunch of people though and initially a little aloaf, soon accept me into the conversation and plans for the day. 
We leave along the shores of lake Te Anau before moving into the hills of fiordland. At first the landscape around the road is in large praries, in the far distance large rolling green hills can be seen surrounding these open yellowed grasslands, and from our guide we discover they are a natural feature,  scrubland created by the harsh New Zealand winter frosts. 
However as the miles flow by this openness is replaced by trees, tall and green, they are sparce at first but quickly expand to obscure the distance and only large features such as rivers and lakes break up the undergrowth. The first signs of autumn can be seen in the leaves, some are vallantly holding on to the deep green hews but at the edges and on those first fluttering leaves are the tints of yellow and Amber.
We enter fiordland proper and pass through the homer tunnel, not finished until 1953 this tunnel was the last obsticle to daily tourist traffic driving to Milford sound. The landscape changes abruplty on the other side, before steep tree covered cliffs had over hung the road as we climbed but after the shear scale of the scenery hits you as the road drops away, snaking sharply down towards sea level and the towering mountains on either side rise up to meet the horizon. Although the sides of the pass are near shear, still they are covered in deep green trees, there are no trunks visable, no brown, all is green as the trees below grow upwards into the lowest brances of the ones above. The trees give you an impression of the people, to live here you'd need to be hardy, for the trees they grow in inhospitable conditions with little soil or stability but they grow straight and true, except for the odd scar on the hillsides where it's all gone a bit wrong.
The approach to Milford sounds is breath taking, no picture can ever explain the majesty of it, the calm placid waters, the towering tree covered cliffs continuing down to meet the depths with the trees finising feet from the water line. Here we board a boat, the Sinbad, to take us out through the sound to the Tasman sea, the vastness of the Walls as we leave the jetty is humbling and even the persistant rain cannot keep me from standing awinspired with my head back mesmerised by these feats of nature. 
The fiordlands are some of the wettest places in the world and here, today, this shows itself not only in the rain falling and the deep abyss like lake but also in the waterfalls that spring up all along the Sound to express the rain that is falling, some of the falls are permenant and they cascade down from within the clouds, and it is easy to believe that they fall directly from heavan, others appear as if by magic streaming the days rainfall into the saline sweet water.
I broke my journey at the underwater observatory, an chamber sunk into the deep waters to observe the unique life that occurs within this bizarre environment. Because the lake is fed by such a large amount of surface run off the top layer of the water is fresh, but as the mouth of the sound is open to the sea the depths are salt, however as the run off occurs through tanin rich soils these leach out and make the fresh water tea coloured, which makes the bottom of the lake unnaturally dark, and this means that wildlife is tricked into thinking the water is much deeper and as such the flora and fauna of the lake are representative of deep salt water. So a trip of a few tens of feet saw black coral, spotties, huge starfish and sea cucumber out of the 2 inch thick windows. It was great. 
The journey back had us stopping at little beauty stops and short walks to break the travel and to appreciate the area, one such stop was at the chasm. A deep cavern cut into the earth by fast flowing water, the walkway hangs you over the drop, water swirling and thundering as it drops into the earth, to appear later further down the hill.
My day is not done though, next Richard is going to take me to the cinema to see ata whenua - shadowland. This 30 minute film is purely fiordland vistas set to dramatic music. In the short time it covers all seasons, flora and fauna of this dramatic landscape, the music changes with the scenes and loud pounding kettle drums acompany steep drops and a tinkling triange highlights the skitish nature of the takahe, the recently rediscovered tussock mornhen like bird. It's fantastic and I can completly understand Richards barely contained excitement to show his backyard in all it's glory. 
Next it's my turn to take Richard to the glow worm caves, a short catamaran trip across the lake takes us to this miraculous feat of chemical nature. After a brief intoroduction to the geology of the region and the biology of the worm we are whisked underground. 
Ducking low to avoid the narrow entrance roof we are transported into a new world gone is the forest canopy and cool humid evening air, now the thundering of the water that formed these limestone caves is coupled with stark yellow rock walls and an enclosed, confined feeling, pressing on deeper into the hillside the volume of the water increases, cascading throgh the cave in wild white termoil, swirling within smooth cylindrical holes in the rock. Finally we reach a platform and as the whole group congregates the lights go out and the ceiling infront of us is suddenly lit up in neon green specks. We are navigated forwards and into a small barge, from here we are taken in the pitch darkness into the cave, the light is amazing as the worms collect in groups on the ceiling, your brain struggles to form patterns from the random flecks, to see constellations in the chaos. It is like a fairground ride, and my cynical brain wonders if it is all a trick made possible by the complete darkness, but as the boat presses on the numbers of glowing tailends grows like a net of lights and as we reach the end of this cave system and the boat circles slowly under mother natures stars, I am yet again astounded by the absolute power of nature. 

---

Comments

[jane]

Milford sounds fantastic
Milford sounds fantastic and a glowing reference for the worms! Another great tale of your travels.