A short look back:  During our visit to Wellington a couple of weeks ago, we joined native New Zealanders in celebrating Anzac Day.  It’s similar to our Veterans’ Day and memorialises those who suffered and died fighting in WW1,  The Great War.   The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (later nicknamed ANZAC)  entered the war when they landed on a beach at Gallipoli, Turkey on April 25, 1915 to fight on the western front.  It’s a long story,  but the anticipated short battle to overtake the Turks  turned into a 9 month long disaster with thousands of lives lost.  However, the willingness to engage in war and the pay ultimate sacrifice established a global identity for New Zealand.  On this national holiday red poppy flowers are pinned to clothing in remembrance of their growth in the soil that was unearthed or disturbed … by bombs and blasts, during the war.   Think Anzac Day, think red poppies!

The Wellington Great War Exhibition and “Gallipoli, The Scale of War”  at Te Papa Museum were incredibly powerful.   We appreciated the models, movie-making tricks, and digital technology even more after visiting Weta Workshop and meeting the creative artists involved in the exhibits.  Below is one of the intricate small scale models of a battlefield with trenches and bunkers on each side. Sometimes allies and enemy were only separated by a 100 meter field.    Singing or yelling across to the other side was doable and gives credibility to the Christmas caroling  story.  We learned much on the guided tour, too many details to report here, but the harsh reality that so many young  lives were deemed expendable stuck with us. 

“Gallipoli, The Scale of War” uses triple-sized human figures to tell the tales of 9 men and women who fought and died and cared for the sick on the western coast of Turkey (Ottoman Empire). The detail on the figures was hard to believe.  A decision was made to super size them to emphasise the magnitude of a war and allow viewers to experience the action and moments on a personal, visceral level. Each were life -like to say the least.  You can get just inches away and almost think you hear them breathing…or yelling.     Since New Zealand was a small country of only 1 million people,  they lost a significant percentage of their young male population. Over 100,000 served overseas and approximately 1 in 5 men did not return.   Thousands of native Maori and Pacific Islander solders fought and died in the Great War.

Below is a video from a 3 dimensional Xray animation made for the war exhibit. It illustrates the real life outcomes from bullets, shrapnel, and bomb blasts. The shockwaves produce internal injuries as well. The weapons and their effects are historically accurate.

Thanks for reading, more carefree posts to follow…!

We traveled during the “fall break” to the NZ’s capital city.  If not relaxing, the 5 hour drive down to Wellington was never boring: plenty of sheep, cattle, quirky towns, and Kiwi characters all the way.  The roads don’t have shoulders, so it’s a challenge to snap roadside photos.  But trust me, there are “heaps of sheep”!

We’d heard of the nickname, “Windy Welly”  given for its high winds most days of the year,  but we lucked out and were greeted by spectacular sunny, calm weather.  Yeah!  The city wraps around a large harbour and faces southeast at the very tip of the North Island.  On clear days and at high elevations,  you can get a good glimpse of the South Island.  Next time we’ll definitely take the 4 hour ferry  voyage across Cook’s straight to visit the South Island sites.   This trip was spent soaking up city life and local “must sees” almost entirely on foot. Kai (and Des) hardly noticed the miles walked!   One short hike was up to the Mount Victoria lookout. Des led the way… Right out the back door of the hotel, up some concrete “too-steep-for-anyone” steps, up through windy narrow streets, up a downhill mountain bike single-track trail,  until,  we finally found the pedestrian path to the lookout- along with a hundred other people.  Pictures don’t do it justice; the sunset views of the city are amazing on Mt. Vic ! This was one of my best memories.

One day we split up for a few hours. I checked out New Zealand’s national museum (below are a few pics) while Des and Kai ventured to a fitness facility with glass walls overlooking the harbour.

                                        The main museum is called Te Papa and everybody tells you to go there. It was featuring a funky art exhibit on one of its 6 floors of other Maori, ecological and social history stuff.  Lara Walker is an artist and jewellery maker and I had to laugh at her life sized portraits.  The Pacific Sisters costume exhibit was exotic and beautiful.

Look for more posts and photos of Wellington tomorrow!   – Jen