Wellington, ferry crossing to the South Island, and Glow worms (Day 12)

Today we woke up in our crazily windy free campsite near Wellington, right by the ocean.  It was pretty incredible to wake up with the ocean crashing literally metres from your window.  Not so easy was trying to boil water for coffee, but somehow we managed!

What can beat waking up to this view?

Coffee, by the way, has been lacking in our campervan for the past several days.  When we first arrived in Auckland, we procured the wonderful invention of a coffee plunger, and enjoyed many a fine cup of coffee until a few days ago, we discovered a large crack in it, and some hot water poured into a cold vessel cracked the bottom straight off.  The sadness was palpable as we bid adieu to our wonderful coffee plunger.  However, yesterday J had the bright idea of stopping at a hardware store on the way to Wellington, and we found a replacement for our dear coffee plunger.  It's the little things, sometimes.

We drove around Wellington for a bit.  It was quite cold and rainy, so we went into the Te Papa museum by the waterfront, and looked around for a bit at different displays of Maori history.  There was also a section on refugees in New Zealand.  This was a very moving interactive display, with photographs, videos, poetry, and other creative writings of current refugees and their stories of hardship and hope.  Some of their stories were heart-wrenching, like one family that had to leave a child behind because he had gone to a cousin's house to play after school and couldn't be found when they had a chance to escape.  Others were endearing, like one young person's delight at eating the popular Tim Tams cookies once they arrived in New Zealand.  It was a deep and profound display, and a poignant reminder, especially in light of current events, at how incredibly painful and dangerous the life of refugees are and how it's our moral duty to do all we can to help them and give them a safe refuge.

Interactive refugee display at Te Papa Museum

We drove to the Interislander ferry docks after this, and waited in a line of cars to board the ferry with our vehicle.  It was the largest boat I've ever been on, and I was fascinated for the first fifteen minutes or so, until the severely choppy waves made me seasick for the first time in my life and I had to find somewhere to lie down until the water got calmer.

After a three hour ferry ride, we got back in our campervan and drove off the ferry and into Picton.  It was already dark, but our chosen campsite was close by, so J drove the windy rodes up the mountainside with the experise of a native kiwi driver and brought us safely to our tranquil campsite by another lake.

Picton harbour and partial view of Interislander Ferry

We had read in the reviews that this one had a small trail with glow worms on it at night, and were excited to go looking for them. After we parked, we took a short walk through the campsite to the patch of forest at the back.  Armed with flashlights, we slowly walked in the pitch darkness.  Suddenly a dot of purple appeared at the edge of my vision, and I turned.  "Glow worms!" I cried. 

And there they were.  Fantastically small pin points of blueish purple light.  Dozens of them.  It was fascinating to look at them.  They looked exactly like stars, and were just as difficult to photograph.
Some magical experiences can't be photographed.  If you come to New Zealand and have the Waitomo Glow worm caves on your list, consider skipping it and finding a forest trail like this instead.  I can't begin to explain how magical it was to walk slowly along in the woods, with a rushing stream nearby, and discover these mysterious glowing purple dots all on our own. 

My best attempt at capturing the magical glow worms

It was a special night.  A night that made me grateful for every moment of my life that brought me here.  Every wrong turn, every heart ache, every loss, brought me into this dark forest with tiny beautiful, glowing creatures, and I took in every previous second of it.