Finding Joy in Rock Pools

6th May 2019 - Waipapa Lighthoue, Catlins, Southland New Zealand

Jack and I have been driving around the South Island of New Zealand in our wee Toyota Estima - and have been having the time of our lives. After working hard at Dolphin Encounter for the past 8 months, I am so happy to be traveling again. Jack and I plan on traveling around the South Island for two weeks and then going up to the North Island to pick kiwi fruit. We have been traveling for a little over a week now. Yesterday we spent all day driving through muck and windy, narrow roads in the Catlins of New Zealand. We stayed near the Waipapa Lighthouse which was a nice wide-open change of scenery.

We were happy to see the sun when we woke up this morning after a very gloomy day yesterday. It is surprisingly warm down here seeing as how we are just about the farthest south you can get in New Zealand and it's winter. After making plunger coffee and a nutritious breakfast of Coco Pops and Nature Valley Bars :), we wandered down to the beach to look at the rock pools.

Petrified wood embedded in a rock

Ever since my very first encounter with the ocean which was in Oregon when I was about 7, I have been fascinated by rock pools (or tide pools as we used to call them). I just love wandering along the rocks on the beach and looking for little creatures that call the salty water home. Jack is an expert at flipping over heavy rocks and discovering the little creatures underneath. I simply stand by eagerly anticipating what we will see below. We found little crabs scurrying under dark rocks, little hermit crabs with all different shapes and colors of shells with their furry bodies peering out of their sanctuary. We saw little tiny starfish of different colors, their little suckers clasping to the rocks.

The whole time we were exploring, I couldn't help but think how cool it would be to show my future students all this wonder and discovery. Being an early childhood teacher, I find myself thinking this a lot when I travel. Hearing their excited squeals as you turn over a rock and see a crab scuttle into a dark crevice, their brave little fingers touching a squishy sea slug or holding a brightly colored starfish. One of the things I absolute love about teaching is taking part in the pure joy and excitement of exploring our world. Children are fascinated by every little aspect of nature - and there is no greater joy than being able to take part in their exploration. I find so much joy in exploring myself, and I hope everyone gets the chance to discover and explore this amazing world that our loving God has created for us. We are never too old to explore the vast beauty of this world, even to the tiniest little creature hiding in a rock pool.