We thoroughly enjoyed our late night trip to find the elusive little kiwi, and with quite a lot of luck, and following the guide’s instructions on being quiet and light-footed, we were lucky to see a baby kiwi (very rare) and one adult.
We certainly saw fewer than some groups, but were so lucky to see the youngster. It just highlights that you really are up watching them in their natural surroundings.
And we learned a lot from the guide about this special little bird, and their habitat. Also how he tracks them with sound and sight.
Finally, we had the added benefit of seeing seals and numerous birds on the trip out, and even a little Blue Penguin when we returned to sure and got off the boat.
Very enjoyable, but this trip is for a nature enthusiast, and you do need to be a reasonably mobile Walker.
We booked directly with Real Journeys. That piece went completely smoothly.
The tour through the cave was remarkable, more for the caves than for the glow worms themselves. They ran a pretty efficient operation, separating us into groups of about a dozen and guiding us on a walk through the caves (filled with running streams, waterfalls, etc.) and then into a relatively short boat ride to see the glow worms. Our guide was fine, although to some extent it was like she was going through the motions. There was a brief educational slide show afterwards that was pretty good.
I do think that the tour was expensive, given the amount of time involved. It was unique, so I guess that's something.
Tip: Make sure that you're slathered in insect repellant, or you'll get eaten alive by the sand flies.
What an incredible experience this trip was, and our guides really made it for us by being so passionate about the job they were doing. We were so lucky on our trip and actually got to see 3 kiwi, one even walked right in front of us which was amazing and so special to see, especially in their natural habitat.
The whole trip is around 4 - 5 hours in total which includes a 1.5hr return boat trip and then a guided walk to spot the kiwi. I would advise wearing appropriate walking shoes and dressing warmly as you are walking on tracks/the beach for a few hours.
It's well worth the money and a must do if you're visiting Stewart Island!
After I made a mistake in the booking (wrong month) they changed it with no question asked.
The nice lady at the counter also helped me by returning the 20$ I was chanrged for 30 minutes of parking on the "wrong/expensive" parking lot.
Thabk you for the customerfriendly service
The glow worm caves might be a good trip to do but we couldn’t experience it because the agency cancelled twice, during the second time we were stocked in the boat for 30min with no explanations nor apologizes, we couldn’t even get our money back because the reception was closed when we came back to the town, how convenient! The agency obviously lacks of honesty and seriousness, their organisation and service is also very very bad, I totally not recommend it.
