New Zealand: Plimmerton

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Plimmerton, North Island – April 17 to April 20, 2017

On our first evening in Plimmerton, we enjoyed the sunset and views of the ocean!

The next day, we spent most of the afternoon at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) in Wellington, which was recommended by several people along the way.

We started our visit at the Quake Breaker exhibit and learned a bit about the Maori stories about earthquakes and a Kiwi-based innovation called base isolators that is helping to protect people and buildings around the world that are susceptible to seismic activity.

In the Mountains to Sea exhibit, we learned about all the diverse environments, plants, and creatures that are a part of New Zealand, including a whole area on the colossal squid!

We all felt a little sad about the poor dodo bird.

This is the size of a blue whale heart. It’s big enough to crawl inside!  Sadly, they are an endangered species. There are only a couple thousand left in the Southern Hemisphere.

Probably our favorite exhibit was one about WWI that had opened the day before we were there.  The Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War told the story “through the eyes of eight New Zealanders” who were part of the Gallipoli campaign.

The exhibit was created in partnership with the Weta Workshop, famous for creating special effects and props for countless movies (most famously for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).  For the Gallipoli exhibit, they created absolutely amazing life-like sculptures that were 2.4 times human size.  They were so realistic; you felt as though you were standing next to giants, who were telling you their stories.  It was an absolutely incredible way to experience this particular history of WWI.

There is another area of the museum dedicated to the Maori people, but photos aren’t allowed inside the exhibit.  The boat below was outside the entrance to it. 

Our last full day in Plimmerton, we spent a good chunk of time climbing on all of the rocks along the shore and exploring creatures in the tide pools.

Afterward, we walked into town to see what we could find for lunch.  We ended up at Kafe Oranje, where both L and G happily ordered waffles with fresh fruit!

Our last night provided an absolutely amazing sunset! 

Next stop…Taupo!