The Fiordland Holiday

By Andrew Oswin

I went on a lovely holiday with my parents holidaying in Te Anau. We stayed at an Airbnb holiday home called the Laybak Retreat, where we stayed for seven nights. It was such a delightful experience for me because I had not been there before. Each day when we had fine weather, we would go on several walks such as from the start of the Kepler Track to Dock Bay, walking along the lakeside of Te Anau while having gelato, and also walking to the Lake Marian Falls and Lake Mistletoe. We visited the Punanga Manu o Te Anau / Te Anau Bird Sanctuary looking at birds, especially the flightless takahe.

The first cruise I went on with my parents was around Milford Sound looking at waterfalls with rainbows and another waterfall that will make you look ten years younger, if the water touched your skin, which the captain told us about.

The second cruise my parents and I went on was to visit the Glowworm Caves where we attended a short briefing before visiting the caves. Everyone who was on the cruise with us had to duck as there were some low parts of the cave. We were then taken on a small boat that took us to visit the glowworms and we had to be very quiet. Afterwards, the staff gave us a presentation about the female and male glowworms, and I learned how important they are to our culture.