DAY FIVE: Hamilton to Waitomo

The weather was beautiful when we went to bed.

Julianne and I wanted to keep our rain fly off the tent because it’s been so hot and stuffy, but we put it on, staked it in, and got all our bags stacked under it.

It poured that night. 

Which made for a beautiful sunrise.

I’ve never felt more like a boy scout in my life. “Be Prepared.” It felt good. Since we were prepared, we could enjoy the rain rather than curse it’s name. . I’ve been thinking about Steven and what our family is going through. There isn’t a lot of happiness in the situation but there are things to be enjoyed. I enjoy how much closer our family has become. I enjoy applying the Plan of Salvation to our lives. I enjoy remembering that, although we do not know all things, we know that God loveth his children.

With those thoughts in my mind, we drove to Waitomo where we went to the Waitomo glow worm caves. We got fitted in thick wetsuits that smelled like urine, a helmet with a light on it, gogo boots, and an inner tube. We then climbed through a small opening in the mountain and began floating through the dark caves. At times we had to walk and the footing was unsure. Also, my group of 15 was the only group that they made turn of our head lamps and walk. It was terrifying and I didn’t like it but I'm sure there was a lesson to be learned there. Make one up.

Anyway, we got into the caves and turned our torches out. If you’ve ever watched the Planet Earth about caves and those nasty glow worms, that’s what we did. It may be the coolest thing I’ve ever done. The light is one of the purest lights, like a star, and that’s what it looked like. It looked like we were looking at stars. (I also had the “jenny” song by Flight of the Conchords stuck in my head. The part where he talks about the lights from the buildings and cars looked like reflections of the stars…) It. Was. Amazing. Can’t put words to it.