Wellington

After yesterday’s fairly manic pace, today promises to be relatively quiet! 

We have a late breakfast before catching the local bus - conveniently just outside our gate - and travel into the city. There’s only one thing on our list today and that’s Te Papa - Wellington’s impressive Museum of New Zealand where under one admittedly large roof, exhibits on history, culture, science and art are brought together. 

We thoroughly enjoy our visit and feel a real sense of our fragments of knowledge coming together. Having seen the Kauri forests, Kupe’s landing place, the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi and the ceremonial Waka, so much of the history begins to make sense. And having just returned from the volcanic area of Taupo and Torangiro - as well as our distant visit to Christchurch - the exhibit on ‘Facing the Fear’ really made an impact. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis are thankfully not part of our everyday world back in the UK! 

But what has the greatest impact on us is ‘Gallipoli:The Scale of Our War’. Big John - our rather irritating non-stop talking guide way back on our previous visit to Wellington - had told us about this and challenged anyone to view it without emotion. We in the UK are more familiar with the horrors of The Somme and Passchendaele, but here it is Gallipoli that is set out so effectively.  The notion of so many young men - many of them Māori - travelling to the opposite side of the world to play a part in this ridiculous conflict is hard to comprehend, though this exhibition tells the story eloquently. Most powerful by far, however, is the telling of the story through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Each is captured frozen in a moment of time on a monumental scale – 2.4 times human size. The giant sculptures took the Weta Workshop a staggering 24,000 hours to create and countless hours were spent researching their rich histories.

There is something incredibly moving to just stand and stare at these colossal creations, caught in crucial moments, listening to their words from letters or diaries accompanied by a carefully constructed soundtrack. They seem so real, and we feel rightly dwarfed by what they have experienced. Big John was right. It is impossible not to be moved to tears. 

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/exhibitions/gallipoli-scale-our-war

After completing some necessary shopping we return to base to rest before the second of our Wellington activities - a twilight tour of Zealandia, the world’s first fully fenced urban eco sanctuary where a valley has been ‘returned to nature’, predators eliminated. 

Our tour starts at 7.15 with 10 of us following our delightful guide Hannah into the sanctuary. It’s warm and sunny and the air is thick with birdsong as Zealandia’s inhabitants make the most of the final cooler hours of daylight. Then gradually, the noises change; the melodious birdsong ceases, and sounds of the night develop. We see Toutouwai, Kaka, Kakariki, Tui  and Kereru amongst others, and as the light fades, see prehistoric Tuatara and Wetas. We see glow worms twinkling magically in the dark canopy-covered paths, but though we hear kiwi, we aren’t lucky enough to see them. After all, it’s still relatively early. 

We’re warmed with restorative Kawakawa tea before the inevitable departure from this magical world and return to the bright lights of the city, viewed from the heights of our Airbnb, where we discuss the shock news of the Jacinda Ardern resignation. Our host tells us she feels ‘very, very sad’, and we speak of how Jacinda had stood out as a beacon of leadership against the mess many of us in the UK and USA had witnessed particularly in Covid management. ‘It’s a pity many here don’t see her in the same light,’ Hilary says sadly. 

Today it’s hard to decide whether to post a bird shot from Zealandia - definitely the technically stronger shots, or an iPhone shot from Te Papa (I’ve decided not to take my camera anywhere that involves a lot of walking as I get too tired). In the end, I’ve gone with a main from the Gallipoli exhibition as I found it so moving and impressive. This is Lieutenant Colonel Percival Fenwick, a 45 year old military surgeon whose diary tells of his despair in his inability to save the wounded soldier in front of him. We hear his words as we stand - or sit - viewing the scene before us. (More on his life in the link below)

https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2015/07/16/percival-fenwick-and-the-scale-of-his-war/ 

In extras is a selection of birds and a Tuatara from Zealandia