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On the way to the West Coast
getting into the Alps |
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| On the way to the West Coast |
This weekend we had a free weekend so we went to Hokitika (Ho-key-tea-kah)which
is on the wild west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. We saw glow worms, the beach, the Tasman Sea,
driftwood, Castle Rocks (Google it) and a kea on a sign. There are only three passes (places where you
can drive through the mountains) on the South Island to get through the
Southern Alps to the Tasman Sea. We
drove through a place called Arthur’s Pass to get to the west coast.
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| Walking to Castle Rocks |
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| Climbing around the Castle Rocks. We sure are small! |
On our way to Hokitika we visited Castle Rocks. If you’ve seen the movie the Chronicles of
Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe then you have seen Castle Rocks
too. Castle Rocks is where the battle
between Pater and Aslan’s army and the White Witch’s army was filmed. The Castle Rocks are made of limestone. We climbed around and up some of the Castle
Rocks. It was cool to climb up high on
some of them. I felt like I was in
Narnia and you could see far to the Alps when you were up there.
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| The viaduct through Arthurs Pass. We drove on that! |
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| Trying to sneak up on the cheeky kea |
One go drive through Arthur’s Pass you are in a temperate
rain forest. The west coast of New
Zealand gets lots of rain. When storms
come across the Tasman Sea from Australia, they hit the mountains of the
Southern Alps of New Zealand and drop all of their rain on the west coast of
the South Island. That part of New
Zealand gets lots of rain each year compared to where we are living in Lincoln
on the Canterbury plains where it is dry and hotter. The plants on the West Coast are very
different then the plants on the plains.
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| Sign carved at the main entrance to the beach |
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| The wild driftwood beach in Hokitika |
When we got to Hokitika, we had dinner at one of my Mommy’s
favorite restaurants called Stumpers.
Then we went on the beach to watch the sunset and have a fire on the
beach. The beach was black sand with big
waves, lots of driftwood and bridges and sculptures that people had made out of
driftwood. There was even a driftwood
cow. Hokitika is known for having
beautiful sunsets. The fire was made out
of driftwood we collected and it was really, really hot. We had s’mores and watched the sunset and
talked. After that I got a shower and
went to bed.
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| Pretty pebbles where the surf comes in on Hokitika beach |
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| Sunset on the beach in Hoki |
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| Walking into the rainforest |
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Lake Kaniere
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| Interesting mushrooms we saw on our walk |
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| The bright colors say "do not touch!" |
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| A fern uncurling- you can see why the fern is a national symbol here |
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| Exploring 60 meter falls |
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| A fan tail that was teasing us in the rainforest |
Once it was dark, we went to see the glowworms. They glow like a greenish blue light and kind
of look like stars in the sky except they are attached to the side of the dell
(cliff that you can walk up to from the base).
You have to be quiet and cannot use a torch (that is the word they use for
flashlight here). Glowworms are larvae
(young) of a special kind of fungus gnat. Their tails glow
so that they can attract prey (other bugs) to their webs. Did you know that glowworms are sometimes
cannibals? They will eat their neighboring glow worm if they get to close! How’s that for being a nice neighbor?
This is what the online New Zealand government sponsored encyclopedia says about glow worms. We couldn't take an pictures of them but you should google images for glow worms because they are very neat!
What is a glow-worm?
None of the world’s glow-worms are true worms. In the northern hemisphere the name is used for beetles that fly around at night with their tail-lights flashing.
In New Zealand and Australia, glow-worms are the larvae (maggots) of a special kind of fly known as a fungus gnat. Fungus gnats look rather like mosquitoes, and most feed on mushrooms and other fungi. However, a small group of fungus gnats are carnivores, and the worm-like larvae of these species use their glowing lights to attract small flying insects into a snare of sticky threads. One species, Arachnocampa luminosa, is found throughout New Zealand, and others occur in Australia.
Hundreds of Arachnocampa larvae may live side by side on a damp sheltered surface, such as the roof of a cave or an overhanging bank in the forest. Their lights resemble a star-filled night sky. Māori call them titiwai, which refers to lights reflected in water.
Beetle or fly?
It was first thought that the only insects that glowed were beetles, such as the northern hemisphere fireflies. So people believed that New Zealand’s glow-worms, too, were beetles. But in the 1880s, George Vernon Hudson took glow-worm larvae from the Wellington Botanic Garden and raised them in a tank. He showed that they had a pupa stage and then emerged as a special type of adult fly – known as a fungus gnat.
Habitat
Glow-worms need damp places, where the air is humid and still, to construct their snares. Caves and old mining tunnels are ideal. In the forest glow-worm snares are commonest on moist banks beside a stream or in a ravine.
Prey
Small midges are the usual prey of glow-worms, but all sorts of flying insects get trapped in the sticky snares, including mayflies, caddisflies and moths. Forest glow-worms may also trap spiders, plant hoppers and even millipedes. The glow-worm simply cuts free any prey that is too large, or unwanted.
Adult glow-worm flies are never caught in the snares – they are not attracted to the light, and even if they brush against the sticky threads they are strong enough to pull free.
Light display
The glow-worm’s tail-light shines from an organ which is the equivalent of a human kidney. All insects have this organ but the glow-worm has a unique ability to produce a blue-green light from it.
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