Te Marama Mīharo (The Marvelous Moon)

I'm sure many of you knew about and/or saw the Super Moon a few weeks ago, but I found it so inspiring that I thought I'd share my experience. J told me about it and thought I would love to see it, but I was inclined to just go to sleep early because I was on the early shift at work and desperately needed sleep. However, it started being pretty amazing long before it got dark, and then I was sucked in. 

I'd recommend clicking on the pictures to make them bigger, to better see the details of the moon.

It was a fairly cloudy day, and I wasn't sure we'd even be able to see it, but it was so bright that it shone right through the clouds, even when the sky was still light.

As it got darker, I was thankful that there were plenty of clouds, because they actually added to the majesty of the moon as it lit them up and seemed to dodge in and out of them. They were blowing by quite quickly, so it made the scene dynamic in a way that a clear sky could not have.

It is hard to capture in pictures, but it was hard to imagine that this spotlight of intensity was the moon at all. It was so bright! Also, I had never understood what people meant by "the Man in the Moon" until I came to NZ, where I can see him clearly every so often. But even here, I'd never seen him looking so amazing as he did that night.

I think my favourite views were actually when it was behind a thin layer of clouds, but still so clearly shining through.

Blogger continues not to like videos, so I've uploaded one to Facebook, and you can click here to watch it and see the beautiful movement of the clouds.

Zealandia with Dad and Lucinda

Posting once a week is resulting in the dates of my posts being increasingly distant from the dates when things actually happen. I hope this doesn't bother anyone too much, because I don't think that posting more than once a week is something I'm willing to commit to at this stage.

Anyway, this post is still from when Dad and Lucinda were here. We did so many fun things, over a month later I still have lots to write about.

Zealandia is probably my favourite place to take visitors in Wellington, partly because it's so beautiful and inspiring that it's delightful to share, and partly because I always discover something new, so it never gets repetitive for me.

First, we went on Dad and Lucinda's second day here, when it happened to be raining. I'd been told that a drizzly day was the perfect time to come, because that's when lots of the birds are out looking for food. It turned out to be slightly more of a downpour than a drizzle at first, but that was fine, as it's exciting and beautiful to be in the woods in the rain. And then it lightened up significantly, and we ventured out from underneath our umbrellas, and enjoyed that, too.

Dad and Lucinda shared my appreciation of amazing ponga (NZ ferns). Also, Dad had a cool waterproof hat that Patty's dad Paul gave him, which he enjoyed using here.

There are all kinds of interesting fungi around Zealandia, but I don't think I'd ever seen these ones! They look like some interesting (but unappetizing) combination of licorice and tar.

Tickets for Zealandia are good for two days, so we headed back the next day, which happened to be much sunnier. J came with us as well, and the four of us had a fabulous time. The shags were out in full force in their favourite spot, which was fun.

All over Zealandia there are these wooden steps with tiny plaques on them, most of which state the names of the individuals, families, or organizations that donated money to Zealandia. I'd read a couple but mostly didn't pay attention to them.

Fortunately, Dad did, because he spotted this one. Hilarious! The Three Billy Goats is one of my children's favourite stories, which we tell in te reo Māori and in English. It made my (already lovely) day to see this.

A nice lady pointed out this beautiful female tuatara sunning herself. I'd never see one in this area, and it is great for getting a really good look at them.

We also saw a larger male one out in the usual area where we see them. I'd never seen two on one trip, so that was special.

We also saw this stunning quail -I'd never seen one at Zealandia before. They are not native to NZ, of course, but they don't hurt anything and they're beautiful, so they're pretty good as far as invasive species go.

We also admired the Kākā, as usual. I liked how clearly you could see the intense, curved beak when they were silhouetted in the trees.

The reservoir was beautiful, as it always is.

This is the higher of the two dams, which we learned were constructed to provide more water for the growing population of Wellington.

I'd never noticed the hilarious and ingenious little pockets the foresters had created to help vines grow. We'd been noticing how often there were natural little pockets in trees, from which other plants were growing, and apparently here they decided to give the system some support.

I may have (definitely) mentioned this before, but I love tunnel paths like this!

We saw lots and lots of birds the second day, and I actually got some decent pictures, especially around the Hihi and Korimako feeders like this one. The one with yellow on his wings is a male Hihi (Stitchbird) and I'm pretty sure the other one is a female Hihi, although it's harder to tell the females apart. Could be a female Korimako (Bellbird).

 One of the male Hihi hung around in the tree after finishing at the feeders, which was charming of him.

Dad and Lucinda read all of the historical information about the settlers and evolution of Zealandia throughout the years, and said it was fascinating. I prefer to focus on being out in nature with the birds, but it's great to have both options.

I do think that I'm coming to the end of the pictures and stories from when Dad and Lucinda visited, but I still have lots of back-logged things to post about, so I'll keep getting to them as I can.

Matiu Island with Dad

While Dad and Lucinda were here, Lucinda wasn't feeling well for several days, and so she stayed home and rested while Dad and I went out exploring. One of these days, Dad and I took the ferry out to Matiu Islands (English name Somes Island), which is one of three small islands in Wellington Harbour. I have been meaning to go there since the first time J and I visited Wellington about four years ago, but things keep coming up and I haven't done it. That turned out to be perfect, because it was so wonderful to experience it for the first time with Dad.

We tried to get on the East by West ferry, which I had read would take us there. We were instructed to buy tickets from a nearby shop, which we did. We then went back to the ferry, but when we went to board, we were told to go to the "next door" ferry.

This one said "The Dominion Post" all over it, and I don't know how we were supposed to know that it was an East by West ferry, but oh well. Fortunately, I like to be early for everything, because we still made it after all this confused walking around. We were actually the last two people allowed onto the very crowded ferry, so we felt very lucky (and also a bit bad for the people who missed out).

The ferry ride was beautiful, and quite fast, actually. This is looking back at Wellington central business district, wrapped around the harbour.

This is Matiu Island, our beautiful destination.

We went around it to dock on the other side, and it was funny to see it from a different angle, since I see it across the harbour almost every day, but always from the same perspective.

Matiu Island is a nature reserve, as are most (if not all) offshore islands around NZ. It is horribly difficult to keep invasive pests away from defenseless native creatures, and so a water barrier is extremely helpful. This lady explained the importance of vigilance while we were on the island, and had us empty our bags to thoroughly check for potential hazards such as ants, seeds, etc. We also scraped our shoes, and she sprayed down the wheels on a pram (stroller) someone brought. She said if there was ever an issue where harmful agents were brought in with visitors, then they wouldn't allow people onto the island anymore, but they'd never had a problem because people are careful. Which is pretty neat.

We walked through the carved archway to start our stroll.

We learned that Matiu Island was used as a quarantine station from 1860 to 1920, for disease including whooping cough, typhoid fever, measles, mumps, influenza, and smallpox. Unfortunately, it was not well-resourced, and many people died there and were buried on the island. They are commemorated on this monument, created in 1970.

This is Mokopuna Island, the smallest of the three islands in the harbour. Matiu and Makaro are named after the daughters of Kupe (the explorer who first came here), and Mokopuna means grandchildren, and so is in honor of his descendents as well. 

Apparently it is full to the brim with bird life (probably because it is off limits to the public).

We walked along beautiful paths, thankful for the shady ones, as it was a very hot, sunny day. Also, I love the dappled light coming through the leaves.

On these paths, basking in the sun, were many common skinks, who were brave enough to hang out and let us observe them as long as we were quiet. Apparently, there are also copper skinks, ornate skinks, spotted skinks, common geckos, forest geckos, Wellington green geckos, and tuatara, but we didn't see any of those this time. I'll have to go back.

The rock formations along the beaches were amazing. I tried to limit myself to a reasonable number of pictures, but it was difficult.

I am fascinated by these trees, which produce an exorbitant number of pinecones. I often stop to admire them in Zealandia, but there they're so tall, it's hard to capture the amazingness.

 This bit was even considerate enough to fall down so I could get a perfect picture to show how many pinecones a single branch can produce.

Later, when we got to the highest point on the island, we got to see how tall these pinecone-heavy trees are compared to the other trees - and these were short compared to the ones in Zealandia.

We saw many different types of beautiful flowers, but these were my favourites.

Those hills in the background are on the opposite side of the harbour from Wellington, off towards the Wairarapa. 

We were a bit concerned for this bird, which had its beak open and seemed to be having trouble breathing. I came up with the hypothesis that it was panting to cool down, like a dog would do. I later confirmed that this was the case. We did not, however, come up with a satisfactory explanation for why it was sitting in direct sun instead of finding shade or hanging out in the water like the other seagulls.

See what I mean about the fascinating coastline? I could look at this view forever.

And so many interesting shapes and holes in the rocks.

And check out the colours of the water. I wish I would have zoomed out a bit on this one to get the deeper blue of the deeper water, but that's okay.

Coastline is definitely one of my most favourite things in the world.

The few sheep who live on the island were taking advantage of the shade.

Look at the one in the middle, who is smiling in her sleep. She may be the happiest sheep I've ever seen. Made my day.

We learned that there are several rangers (and other helpers) who actually live on the island, which is pretty cool. They have what appears to be a wind generator, and some provision for fresh water (although it wasn't working while we were there, which must have been hard).

The paths were lovely and well-maintained.

Again, look at the colours in the water! 

While waiting for the ferry to take us back to the mainland, we explored this beach and waded in the water, which provided welcome coolness on this hot day.

We found this amazing paua shell, which is the only one I've ever seen that seems to have its outer crust naturally worn away. Usually you can only see those beautiful patterns and colours on the inside, because the outside is covered in hard, rocky white buildup. Obviously the same forces that wore that away also wore a hole all the way through, but it's still stunning. The rules are that everything on the island needs to stay on the island, and we were happy comply by just taking a picture.

This is not my picture (although I wish it was). I learned later that Matiu Island "provides critical habitat for the world's smallest penguin - little penguin/korora" (Department of Conservation). We learned about korora and the threats that invasive species (like domestic dogs and cats) pose to them when we went to the zoo. It makes sense that an island would be a perfect, safe refuge for them when they come on land to sleep at night.

Dad and I spent a fabulous afternoon strolling, talking, and admiring this amazing place. I would definitely like to go again.