It’s been almost 10 years since our first visit to New Zealand and this recent visit was a great reminder of what a beautiful country it is! We started our trip in Auckland. The flight is only 3 or so hours from Brisbane, but with the two-hour time difference we landed late so we just wandered the city a bit. It was lovely just to wander the pier.
We were even treated to this glorious sunset.
Just a 30 minute ferry ride off the coast of Auckland is a little island called Waiheke which is known for its wineries. We’ve done a lot of wine tours over the years but this one was quite a different experience. Although the ferry pass we bought included a hop on/hop off bus on the island, the wineries open up their fields and grounds so you are able to walk from one winery to the next. What a wonderful way to combine some hiking, beautiful views and lovely wine!
The next day we travelled to stay a few days with my long-time research partner and friend, Duncan and his family. He toured us around Auckland giving us all kinds of interesting facts. I would never have guessed that all of these grassy hills are actually old volcanos.
Just on the outskirts of Auckland is this beautiful beach called Piha. The views were just amazing!
And just a little further out was Kite Kite where you could hike through the woods to see the Kauri pine trees (which I didn’t take a picture of – oops!). These massive trees were widely logged in the 1800s and early 1900s and the wood was often used for ship masts because the trunks were so tall and straight. Because these trees were so widely used all those years, the forests have been reduced from about 12 000 square kilometres to only 1400 – so devastating! And to make things worse, the remaining trees are now at risk of dying off from Kauri dieback disease. To reduce the spread of this disease, there are signs everywhere warning people to not step on the Kauri roots. They also have these shoe wash stations set up so you don’t transfer the disease from one area to another.
Kite Kite even had a waterfall. Rob was pretty underwhelmed but I am always happy to see a waterfall.
After a few days in Auckland, it was time to head down to Wellington. Duncan arranged our travel to the airport. It was a neat experience to travel in a Tesla though I will admit I’m not yet convinced on the self-driving car option.
Wellington is at the southern most part of New Zealand’s north island so we were expecting cooler temperatures and quite a bit of rain. Lucky for us, Wellington decided to turn on some gorgeous weather. We still needed to wear socks (much to Rob’s chagrin) and light jackets, but we were able to spend lots of time outside walking.
In our spare time, we played tourist including a trip in the cable car. After reaching the top, we walked back downtown through the botanical gardens. Such a beautiful and relaxing walk!
Believe it or not, the main purpose of this trip was actually work. While in Wellington, I attended and presented at the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment conference. This conference highlighted some of the amazing work happening in the world of brain injury right now and gave me the opportunity to catch up with researchers from all over Australia and New Zealand. I even got to meet a few researchers I have only ever interacted with on Twitter. It’s always exciting to meet people you feel you know in person! My conference was right on the harbour front so I was able to duck out between sessions to take in some fresh air and enjoy the gorgeous views.
While I was working, Rob kept himself busy. He toured the parliament…
And even watched a firefighting competition along the waterfront.
On our final day, we spent the morning at Te Papa before heading to the airport. Te Papa is a museum located right on the harbour which has long-standing exhibits on New Zealand’s history and Maori culture. We admittedly didn’t spend much time on those because we spent most of the morning in the museum’s special exhibit which told the story of the Gallipoli campaign during World War 1. The exhibit included giant sculptures of people who fought and assisted in the campaign, with audio and dioramas set up to tell their individual stories. The sculptures were incredibly life-like and detailed, right down to the fine hair on the soldier’s fingers. The stories of these people and the scale of the campaign itself was harrowing and difficult to absorb. So many lives lost. I think I will be envisioning the scenes from this exhibit during future ANZAC day services.
