Next stop on the road trip was Wellington, where we needed to overnight before taking an early morning Interislander Ferry across the Cook Strait to the South Island.
I'd heard from several people that it was important to see the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa, and with ANZAC Day coming up it was good historical context for visitors Kris and Bob. After checking into our hotel off we went! Lucky for us it was a beautiful day in Wellington.
Developed in conjunction with Weta Workshop, the exhibition profiles a number of individuals who went to Gallipoli, putting their experiences into context with particular events. Putting names and larger than life faces to those events served to humanise them, at least for me, making the exhibition quite an emotional experience.
I managed to maintain my composure winding through the exhibition, reading the various formatted displays about the landing and events, until I saw this:
A chart of the percentage of each national force wounded or killed on Gallipoli. New Zealand was by far the highest, at 93%. I started crying, couldn't help myself. Fortunately this was towards the end of the exhibition, where there are paper poppies. Visitors are invited to write a note on a poppy in remembrance of a family member or commenting on their reactions to the exhibit. I simply reported that I was in tears from it all.
At the very end of the exhibition there is a screen where the national online cenotaph can be accessed. A museum docent helped me look up my father-in-law, who is indeed listed.
Yes, more tears! The bookshop outside had a box of tissues on the counter, so it seems I wasn't the only one overcome by it all.
In need of a lighter note, we spent the rest of the afternoon on a tour over at the Weta Workshop "Weta Cave." At the entrance we encountered several trolls who have obviously escaped from our friends at Trollshaw Forest, aka Hairy Feet Waitomo.
Naughty trolls!
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