The next morning we set off fairly early. It wasn’t a long drive (about 4 hours) but we wanted to have plenty of time to settle in and make our glowworm tour. It was a pretty unremarkable drive too; I can’t even recall the scenery! I think it was surprisingly similar to various parts of Idaho. We never stopped anywhere worthy of taking pictures apparently, as all we have is of the Lake Te Anau, across the street from where we were staying. We checked into the Lakeview Holiday Park. We had a private suite with our own bathroom and dressing area. It was quite nice.
We arrived around lunch time, so we went into town to explore. We had lunch in outside with a view of the lake and then did a bit of shopping. When we arrived back “home” I tried to sort out photos for this blog and write a bit more. While I did this in the room mom read a book and did laundry. After sorting laundry out, it occurred to mom that we were missing a big bag of shopping! I drove as fast as possible back into town. We knew what store the bag would be at, but also knew that it probably would have been set outside for the last few hours. The Dohner luck struck again, though. The bag of goodies had been found by some employees and brought in for us. We then rushed back to our room, sorted ourselves out, and got ready for the glowworm tour.We both knew that there would be no use taking pictures in the glowworm caves, so neither of us thought to take a camera for the boat ride across the lake to the caves! Ha ha ha! The lack of cameras was actually quite nice – let us just enjoy the scenery without an obligation to document it. The trip across the lake was easy going and landed us at the site of a massive cave system. We first sat through a talk about the system and the area - the site of the rediscovery of Takahe; a flightless bird that was thought to have been extinct at the time. Then we were led into just a small area of the cave system. We had been shown video and photos of the glowworms, but in the cave our guide showed us the sticky webs they catch their food with by shining a flashlight on them. The web like strands sparkled with sticky globules, much like a string of pearls. We followed an underground stream into the cave, climbing stairs to the top of a waterfall. At the top of the falls the company had built a landing platform and chained in a boat. We loaded up and our guide took his seat. Our guide pulled us through the water while we all sat silent, in the dark, mesmerized by the greenish glow of a galaxy above our heads. There really are no words to describe the experience. Our boat was turned that so everyone on both sides was just inches from the bright glow of these little larvae. And I do mean bright. I could turn my head and easily see mom’s face and the people next to her. We spent a good deal of time drifting and turning while watching the light covered cave walls. It was really neat to just sit there and have the lights move for you. Mom had loved the glowworms in the forest so much that she hadn’t worried much about seeing them in a cave, but she was surprised at how bright they were and how many they were. Also surprising was how regularly spaced they were – our informational video had told us they were territorial, we even watched one worm eat another! While the forest glowworms are still mom’s favorite, she really enjoyed the tour.
Day 16: Wednesday 11 February
Early, early morning. Up and out the door to the call of the tuis by the lake. We waited around for a bit, but the bus finally arrived to pick us and 2 other people up. We were going on a day cruise through Doubtful Sound. We were bussed to Manapouri, where we caught a boat across Lake Manapouri. Once across the lake, we loaded a bus and traveled down a massive tunnel belonging to the Manapouri Powerstation. 
This tunnel took us deep underground where we were able to few the tops of hydropower generators from the machine room. Though I consider myself claustrophobic, the tunnel nor the large room bothered me. Probably because the air was still circulated and it was obvious that so many people came through the station that it was safe. Mom, on the other hand, is not claustrophobic, but she actually got quite uncomfortable when we entered the tunnel. It was a fairly neat thing to see, though mom and I figured that both of our men would enjoy it more ;-) So we took pictures for them.
After resurfacing to the fresh air and mountains, our bus started the ascent up the Wilmot Pass. Our driver stopped several times so we could all unload and take pictures. Our last stop was at the summit of the pass, it gave us our first view of Doubtful Sound – absolutely beautiful. 
We then wound our way down the pass and loaded our boat. The mountains, called the southern alps, surrounding the fjord were misted with clouds. The clouds stayed high, shrou
ding only the tops of the mountains and affording us a clear view down the various arms of the sound. The cruise was quite relaxing, with free coffee/tea and a pre-ordered picnic lunches. The lack of rain made going onto the deck quite comfortable. Though there wasn’t much wildlife to see from the decks, the mountains, clouds, and water made for great scenery – and decent pic
tures. There really isn’t much to tell about the trip itself. The sound emptied into the Tasman sea, where we visited a couple of islets (to small to be called islands) and viewed a colony of NZ fur seals. 
Mom and I had seen plenty of them, so we didn’t bother pushing our way into the crowd. Instead I enjoyed my vantage point of splashing waves, colorful rocks, and a lesser view of the ever enjoyable seals.
Along our way to the seals we glimpsed a couple of little blue penguins. On the way back from the seals there was apparently one fiordland crested penguin (one of a very rare species found only in the fjords of the southern alps (fjordland). However, I am convinced that the guide told us the wrong side of the boat, because I couldn’t see a dang thing in the water, despite my vantage of being right at the rail. Oh well, we had seen at least 2 species of penguins already. Can’t see them all ;-) On the way back up the sound, we had time to move up one of the fjord arms. The guide made a 
big announcement about turning the engines off and asked everyone to be quiet, so that we could all hear the birds and experience the place as it should be. There were a few impatient people, as usual, but all in all the experience was quite cool.
Our journey back over the pass and across Lake Manapouri was uneventful, but full of yawns and sleepy people. Mom and I got a second wind after being dropped off at our lodgings. We drove over to the Te Anau wildlife center – a collection of enclosures set next to the lake for free public viewing (though a donation box is available). 
For the most part, the only animals in the enclosures are birds that have been injured and are recuperating for release back into the wild. There were a couple takahes that were perpetual residents, but they had a large enclosure – with no top, because they are flightless! In the other enclosures we encountered a noisy kea, a couple of kakas, a performing wood pigeon, and many water fowls (also without a ceiling in order for them to come and go as they wish – which is probably why two big Canadian geese were lounging about in it). One small enclosure was empty, as no moreporks (NZ owls) were recovering at the time. One other perpetual resident was a poor little kaka that had been sent to a lady to recuperate, but the lady decided to keep the bir
d – in a cage built for something like a goldfinch! Kakas and keas are both a species of parrots, though with much duller colors. Obviously the cage poor “Charlie Brown” had been kept in was too small. 2 years of the small cage apparently scarred the bird into some strange behaviors, though she is fond of people. She will never recover and be released. It was a bit sad. While we wondering around the bird cages I kept hear tuis in the trees. I finally tracked one down and called mom over. It came flying out of the trees and into some other bushes. We followed it. Finally – after 16 days in NZ, mom got to see her first tui in person! It was something she had been wanting to see since she arrived. A little later, we got a good silhouette view of a tui on top of a tree doing a song for us! It was good.The above short movie shows the wood pigeon doing a strange hopping display. I didn't get the start, just the end.
After pulling ourselves away from the birds, we had dinner in town and called it an early night. I was finally able to get my computer connected to the internet, but the connection was so slow that it was worthless to try uploading pictures – or my prewritten blog.
Day 17: Thursday 12 February
I woke up about an hour before the alarm and the tuis (which sound a bit like broken alarms in the morning) woke mom up. So, we got a very early start to the morning; which was good, because we had something like 6 to 7 hours of driving to do before reaching Christchurch. Having caught the morning news, we knew that pretty much the entire southern island would be wet, with some parts of both north and south islands getting heavy rain warnings. We were fortunate that the rain had held off and given us a such a good time on the sound the previous day. We reckoned the mountains would be less visible and the outside decks less comfortable for the tourists out today. We, however, were comfortable ensconced in our faithful chariot – Jim.
We had only a few stops during the day – coffee, toilets, one lookout. We weren’t sure what we were supposed to be looking for at the “devil’s staircase” lookout near Queenstown, but we didn’t stick around too long. The wind coming down the long lake of Wakatipu was howling between the mountains, and it was a tad cold. The mountains were hidden by clouds anyway, so we jumped back in the car and kept heading out. We didn’t even bother stopping to check out Queenstown, just kept on driving.
We arrived at our prearranged motel near the airport at around 4:30 – having driven for about 7 hours straight. We checked in and settled our things a little before heading across the street to the Antarctic Center. 
The center had a few videos and some pretty cool displays – including stuffed seals that you could actually touch! Mom and I first checked out the Antarctic storm room – where we donned parkas to withstand the extreme temperature. We were still several minutes away from the simulated winds and temperatures, so we occupied ourselves with walking in the snow and sliding down the ice slide. Soon, our faces were freezing and our hands were buried deep in our pockets, as the wind brought temperatures down to temperatures far, far below freezing.
Once we escaped the chilly storm room, we headed to see the penguins. Mom had expected to see several kinds o
f penguins, so she was slightly disappointed to find that only little blue penguins were housed in the center. However, they were really cute and since each penguin had some defect that would have led to its death in the wild, neither of us were sad that these were the only penguins we saw. We got to watch them stand around outside their pool, many of them shaking (which means they are warm, not cold). We then went down the stairs to watch several of them swimming around and picking fish off the floor. 
There were a couple birds that had blue wrappings on their feet – making them look like they were wearing little blue booties. They were so cute, but we had to ask why they were wearing them. Apparently, the penguins in captivity don’t swim as much as wild birds and so develop sores on their feet. Once they are wrapped for protection and healing, they never get the sores again. The end bit of our tour was a ride in a 
Hagglund all terrain vehicle. We were driven through an obstacle course of tall hills, narrow crevasse, and even took the amphibious vehicle through a small pond! It was quite interesting.Once back at our hotel, I unpacked my car. I made sure to take anything perishable out and we either ate it or threw it away. Mom packed all her souvenirs and clothes while I packed a few essentials. We drank wine, ordered room service, and looked at pictures until calling it another early night.
The above video is of a couple penguins underwater. Short, but easily uploaded.
Day 18: Friday 13 February
It was another early morning, greeted with room service and morning news. We gathered ourselves together, I put all unnecessary items back in Jim and then we met the motel shuttle. We were shuttled to the airport, where we had absolutely no problems (or line) through security. I killed the time waiting and riding on the plane by organizing all of our 3,000 plus photos from the trip into folders – organized by day and where they were taken.
When we landed in Auckland we were too early to check into our apartment, so we left our bags and wandered the city. I took mom to one of the city gardens and then we stopped at a bank and changed some of her money back into US dollars. 
She was quite disappointed to get less money back than she gave them (though she had enjoyed the few times we were allowed to pay US dollars on the credit card – the exchange rate made it seem like we were getting a 2 for 1 deal!). I thought the money she got back for the exchange was rather dull, being all the same color and size. ;-)
Once we checked into our 2 bedroom, fully furnished apartment mom didn’t leave again!! She enjoyed finishing her book and just relaxing while I worked on pictures and a bit of blogging. I walked back downtown and picked us up some lunch and beer for later in the evening. We watched a bit of some movies until Dave arrived. Once Dave arrived, we started drinking beer, sharing stories, and watching rugby. I showed Dave all of the souvenirs we had bought – giving him his Speights handles and towel. While Dave sat on the couch and explained rugby to mom, I worked a bit more on the blog. Soon, we were running out of beer and needed to eat something. We ordered food from a delivery place – Thai for me and Dave, Mexican for mom. Dave and I went up to the corner and picked up more beer and milk for mom. We all retired semi early, in order to get mom off to the airport early the next morning.
Day 19: Saturday 14 February
The weather on mom’s departing day couldn’t have been better – for her not wanting to stay at least! It was raining really well. Dave drove us all to the airport, parked, and helped mom with her bags. We watched as she checked in, expecting to see her pull out her credit card to shell out a bunch of money for her overweight suitcase. However, they must not have been too concerned – as they never even weighed it! Dave showed us where to go for departures and security. Mom gave us each a hug before she went into security. From there, she was hidden by the dividers. There was no point waiting around for her plane to leave. We still had an hour long drive to get home – where I was looking forward to getting more sleep!
So – That was the end of mom’s vacation :-( I was sad to see her go and, by the tears trying to well up in her eyes, I believe she was sad too. However, we had had a great time with many adventures. It should take her a good few days to tell dad all the stories and explain all the pictures! Dave and I have only gotten through the pictures we took before leaving Thames! It will probably take another 2 days of after work viewing to get through the rest!
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