Wellington

Let me just say that we gave up a day at one of the most interactive and recognized museums in the world to go on a Lord of the Rings tour through Wellington with one of the most awkward and creepy guides I’ve ever experienced.  What did we get from it?  A picture of Connor and Garrett reenacting a relaxing moment in the exact same spot that Frodo and Sam did in the first movie.  Worth it?  I don’t think so. 

 

So with little to remember Wellington by but LOTR facts and the eeby jeebies, we jumped aboard the ferry that took us to the South Island.  It was like a five star resort minus the swimming pool.  Rooms galore offered comfy seating, eating tables, movie watching, power outlets, and even waiting staff.  For the price it costs to get a vehicle and four people across the waters, I would hope we’d get that much.  Had we driven onto an inflatable raft they might’ve still charged the same though.  Travel is costly over here. 

Which is precisely why that night we pulled over on the side of the road to bed down.  That and the fact that we had eight hours to drive to our next destination and were all tired, especially after so much road viewing.  I had driven through dusk into darkness with Connor and Garrett seated next to me and Mom passed out in the back, as we talked of horror films and real life murder stories. One of the things I love about having nancies as brothers is they’re easy to scare and one of my pleasures of being a big sister is taking the liberty to choose where to pull over.  I chose a nice creepy hill top next to a tiny worn out church bathed in fog. Neither of them got out to use the bathroom before bed.

The next day I woke up early and pulled out onto the road.  The Australian possum and the rabbit are both highly invasive species in New Zealand.  Possums are obliterating native bird species and rabbits are competing with other grazers while both are vectors for disease.  I had only seen road kill of each species since arriving in the country.  Not this morning.  Rabbits were out on the road in the dozens.  Each time I saw one I slowed and weaved around them.  New Zealanders actually teach their children to aim for them but I just can’t stomach the thought.  There was no need to do it on purpose.  Suicide bunny comes charging out of the bushes and right under my right tire!  I’m pretty sure I woke everyone else up in the van with my gasp.  I’ve only ever hit a raccoon before and was so choked up about it that I had to pull over for half an hour to pull myself out of my heaving sobs.  It didn’t end there.  Twenty minutes later suicide birdie comes in from left side and ricochets off of my left front bumper!  No wonder there’s so much road kill in New Zealand!  After that morning I gave up driving for a while, handing over the wheel for my mom to get us to the glaciers…

The jagged peaks of the mountain tops piercing through the clouds remind me of the sculpted spine of a mother humpback breaking the surface of spring oceans before diving to feed.