Weta workshop model of NZ Gallipoli soldiers in WW1
Monday 2 March 2020
Te Papa Tongarewa - The Museum of New Zealand
https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/exhibitions/gallipoli-scale-our-war
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/the-gallipoli-campaign/gallipoli-in-brief
The weather when the birds woke us up on that morning was not as pleasant as it had been up to that point.
It was overcast, even windier than usual and later it started to rain.
But a little rain didn't stop my daughter wanting to walk down into Central Wellington as we had done before.
The others had driven to Bats Theatre early as one of the extra shows would be on that evening so preparations had to be made for that.
It was a little colder than it had been on other days but it was still a lovely walk down past the port, the CBD then to Bats Theatre.
I met my husband there on arrival and at that point we left the other two to their work and set off on our continued tour of Wellington city.
We had considered a tour of Wellington's renowned Weta Cave Workshop which is at the heart of Wellington's film industry.
The Weta Cave is the Special Effects workshop where the props, costumes and fantastical creatures had been created and brought to life in so many of our favourite films.
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit all filmed in various locations all over New Zealand came to mind immediately but there are so many other well known films and dramas that owe their particular style of magic to the Weta Caves.
We also wanted to visit the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum as we had heard that the exhibits there were excellent and there was the added advantage of not having to drive out of the city, so we were torn as it was unlikely that we would have time to do both.
It was while we were on the museum website that we read about the Gallipoli exhibition.
It appeared that Te Papa had joined forces with Weta Workshop to create 'a ground-breaking exhibition about the Gallipoli campaign in World War I'.
This exhibition had clearly combined the best of both: the artistic talent of Weta and the highly professional historical narrations of Te Papa so that is where we spent most of that windy, rainy day in Wellington.
We did not regret it.
"The ground-breaking exhibition tells 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 a staggering 24,000 hours to create, and countless hours were spent researching the rich histories of the characters they depict".
"Cutting-edge technology was used to create 3-D maps, projections, miniatures, models, dioramas, and a range of interactive experiences that bring New Zealand’s Gallipoli story to life".
It should be noted that "New Zealand’s path to Gallipoli began with the outbreak of war between the United Kingdom and Germany in August 1914".
"Prime Minister William Massey pledged New Zealand’s support as part of the British Empire and set about raising a military force for service overseas".
"The 8454-strong New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) left Wellington in October 1914, and after linking up with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) steamed in convoy across the Indian Ocean, expecting to join British forces fighting on the Western Front".
"In early November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria)".
"This changed the strategic situation, especially in the Middle East, where Ottoman forces now posed a direct threat to the Suez Canal – an important British shipping lane between Europe and Asia".
"The British authorities decided to offload the Australian and New Zealand expeditionary forces in Egypt to complete their training and bolster the British forces guarding the canal".
"In February 1915, elements of the NZEF helped fight off an Ottoman raid on the Suez Canal".
The Gallipoli invasion
"The NZEF’s wait in Egypt ended in early April 1915, when it was transported to the Greek island of Lemnos to prepare for the invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula".
"The peninsula was important because it guarded the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait – a strategic waterway leading to the Sea of Marmara and, via the Bosphorus, the Black Sea".
"The Allied plan was to break through the straits, capture the Ottoman capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul), and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war".
"Access to the straits and the Sea of Marmara would also provide the Allies with a supply line to Russia, and open up new areas in which to attack the Central Powers".
"Following the failure of British and French warships to ‘force’ the straits, the Allies dispatched the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula".
"New Zealanders and Australians made up nearly half of the MEF’s 75,000 troops; the rest were from Great Britain and Ireland, France, India and Newfoundland".
"Led by Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton, the MEF launched its invasion of the Dardanelles on 25 April 1915".
"While British (and later French) troops made the main landing at Cape Helles on the southern tip of the peninsula, Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood’s Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) – soon to become known as Anzacs – made a diversionary attack 20 km to the north at Gaba Tepe (Kabatepe)".
"Because of navigational errors the Anzacs landed about 2 km north of the intended site".
"Instead of a flat stretch of coastline, they came ashore at Anzac Cove, a narrow beach overlooked by steep hills and ridgelines".
"The New Zealanders, who were part of the New Zealand and Australian Division, followed the Australians in and took up positions in the northern part of the Anzac sector".
"The landings never came close to achieving their goals".
"Although the Allies managed to secure footholds on the peninsula, the fighting quickly degenerated into trench warfare, with the Anzacs holding a tenuous perimeter against strong Ottoman attacks".
"The troops endured heat, flies, the stench of unburied bodies, insufficient water and disease".
"Early in May 1915, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade was ferried south to Helles, where it took part in an assault on the village of Krithia (now Alchiteppe) on 8 May".
"The attack was a complete disaster; the New Zealanders suffered more than 800 casualties but achieved nothing".
August offensive and Chunuk Bair
"In August 1915, the Allies launched a major offensive in an attempt to break the deadlock".
"The plan was to capture the high ground overlooking the Anzac sector, the Sari Bair Range, while a British force landed further north at Suvla Bay".
"Major-General Sir Alexander Godley’s New Zealand and Australian Division played a prominent part in this offensive, with New Zealand troops capturing one of the hills, Chunuk Bair".
"This was the limit of the Allied advance; an Ottoman counter-attack forced the troops who had relieved the New Zealanders off Chunuk Bair, while the British failed to make any progress inland from Suvla"
"In the aftermath of the Sari Bair offensive, the Allies tried to break through the Ottoman line north of Anzac, which was now linked up with the beachhead at Suvla".
"New Zealanders were also involved in this fighting, participating in costly attacks at Hill 60 in late August".
Evacuation
"Hill 60 turned out to be the last major Allied attack at Gallipoli".
"The failure of the August battles meant a return to stalemate".
"In mid-September 1915, the exhausted New Zealand infantry and mounted rifles were briefly withdrawn to Lemnos to rest and receive reinforcements from Egypt".
"By the time the New Zealander's returned to Anzac in November, the future of the campaign had been determined".
"Following the failure of the August offensive, the British government began questioning the value of persisting at Gallipoli, especially given the need for troops on the Western Front and at Salonika in northern Greece, where Allied forces were supporting Serbia against the Central Powers".
"In October, the British replaced Hamilton as commander-in-chief of the MEF".
"His successor, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles C. Monro, quickly proposed evacuation".
"On 22 November the British decided to cut their losses and evacuate Suvla and Anzac".
"In contrast to earlier operations, planning moved quickly and efficiently".
"The evacuation of Anzac began on 15 December, with 36,000 troops withdrawn over the following five nights".
"The last party left in the early hours of 20 December, the night of the last evacuation from Suvla".
"British and French forces remained at Helles until 8-9 January 1916".
Aftermath
"Gallipoli was a costly failure for the Allies: 44,000 Allied soldiers died, including more than 8700 Australians".
"Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders – about a sixth of those who fought on the peninsula".
"Victory came at a high price for the Ottoman Empire, which lost 87,000 men during the campaign".
"Shortly after the October 1918 armistice with the Ottoman Empire, British and dominion Graves Registration units landed on Gallipoli and began building permanent cemeteries for the dead of 1915-1916".
"During the 1920s, the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) completed a network of Anzac and British cemeteries and memorials to the missing that still exist on the peninsula today".
"In 1925, the New Zealand government unveiled a New Zealand battlefield memorial on the summit of Chunuk Bair".
"The battlefields are now part of the 33,000-ha Gallipoli Peninsula Historical National Park, or Peace Park"
Legacy
"The Gallipoli campaign was a relatively minor aspect of the First World War".
"The number of dead, although horrific, pales in comparison with the casualties on the Western Front in France and Belgium".
"Nevertheless, for New Zealand, along with Australia and Turkey, it has great significance".
"In Turkey, the campaign marked the beginning of a national revival".
"The Ottoman hero of Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal, would eventually become, as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding President of the Turkish Republic".
"In New Zealand (and Australia), Gallipoli helped foster a developing sense of national identity".
"Those at home were proud of how their men had performed on the world stage, establishing a reputation for fighting hard in difficult conditions".
"Anzac Day grew out of this pride.
First observed on 25 April 1916, the date of the landing has become a crucial part of the fabric of national life – a time for remembering not only those who died at Gallipoli, but all New Zealanders who have served their country in times of war and peace".
Originally scheduled to close in 2019, fortunately for us that excellent exhibition proved itself to be a huge drawcard for visitors, with more than 2.5 million people having seen it to date.
I read that "it is the most-visited exhibition in New Zealand’s history, and has set a global benchmark for immersive museum experiences".
"Te Papa Board Chair Evan Williams said the extension would give as many New Zealanders as possible a chance to experience it for themselves".
“From when it first opened we have seen the exhibition have a profound effect on New Zealanders".
"It fosters empathy, inspires reflection, and is the starting point for powerful conversations,” he said.
"Mr Williams said the decision to extend the exhibition had been made as a result of ongoing demand from the public. “We made the decision to extend Gallipoli before the attacks in Christchurch, but in the wake of those acts of terrorism, its focus on the human cost of violence is more relevant than ever."
"This is the kind of storytelling that connects us to our history, and to each other, and helps us recognise our shared humanity over the span of different times, and different cultures.”
"Turkish Ambassador to New Zealand His Excellency Mr Ahmet Ergin said the exhibition had provided an opportunity to recognise the close ties that had grown between the countries since the tragedy of Gallipoli".
“As the proud hosts of Anzac Day services every year we are delighted to hear that this masterfully curated exhibition has been extended for more people to reflect upon our shared sacrifice and most treasured relationship,” he said.
“We share a unique bond of friendship built in the wake of a tragic conflict".
"Gallipoli marks the turning point in our history as we rebuilt our national identity out of the embers of that war".
"It is incumbent on us all to cherish the memories of our grandfathers who made the ultimate sacrifice, and of their loved ones left behind.”
Weta Workshop creative director Sir Richard Taylor was one of the driving forces behind the exhibition. “Working on this exhibition has been a profoundly personal journey for me, and for the Weta Workshop team. “We wanted to go beyond the sheer scale of the numbers and statistics, and tell very personal stories, to really connect visitors to the human experience,” he said.
“The comments we receive every day from visitors tell us that the exhibition is achieving that more powerfully than we could have hoped for. “Many visitors express gratitude and connection with the individuals whose stories we tell, and many respond with explicitly anti-war sentiments.”
I like to believe that our comments were among those he referred to in his statement above.
We certainly commented on the connection we felt with the characters whose stories we had been told about in the most poignant and human of ways.
I had never been to an exhibition like it anywhere else before.
I can't imagine that we would have seen any displays at the Weta Workshop that would have been quite so poignant and dignified.
If anyone is in Wellington before Anzac Day 2022, then this is definitely one to visit.
The stark reality of war
Life in the trenches for boy soldiers as young as 17
The sad and poignant story of staff nurse Lotte Le Gallais
The human cost of war
Native New Zealand
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauna_of_New_Zealand
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_of_New_Zealand
I don't recall exactly how long we spent at the Gallipoli exhibition, two, three hours; maybe longer.
It was one of those moments where time stood still.
We were totally absorbed by what we were seeing, what we were reading and what we were feeling.
The human cost of war is so totally horrific that I am certainly not alone in leaving that exhibition in the hope for a future where such horrors are firmly in the past and never again part of our present or our future.
Sadly we are not there yet; as we were walking around those exhibits looking at the pain and despair in the eyes of the Weta Workshop models or in the many photos also on display, I could not help but think about the war torn areas of the world today where this suffering is still being experienced by men, women and children who are losing mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends.
How this can still be happening in our so-called civilised 21st Century world is confounding.
Has humanity not learnt anything from the past?
We can only hope that exhibitions such as that one at Te Papa, can help raise public awareness on why peaceful negotiations are always, always preferable to war. ALWAYS!
At all times - EVERYWHERE
When we did eventually leave the Gallipoli exhibition, we had a quiet cup of tea in the café then we decided to go and see some of the other exhibitions on view at Te Papa that day.
We had enjoyed our wildlife experiences in South Island very much indeed so we were both drawn to the New Zealand Wildlife exhibition also on the ground floor.
I had been reading about New Zealand's fascinating Eco-system so this exhibition was perfect for us.
"The animals of New Zealand, which are part of its biota, have a particularly interesting history because, before the arrival of humans, less than 900 years ago, the country was mostly free of mammals, except those that could swim there (seals, sea lions, and, off-shore, whales) or fly there (bats), though as recently as the Miocene there was the terrestrial Saint Bathans Mammal (a rat or mole type creature), implying that mammals were present since the island broke away from other landmasses".
"This meant that all the ecological niches occupied by mammals elsewhere were occupied by either insects or birds, leading to an unusually large number of flightless birds, including the kiwi, the weka, the moa (now extinct), the takahē, and the kakapo".
"Because of the lack of predators even bats in New Zealand spend most of their time on the ground".
"There are also about 60 species of lizard (30 each of gecko and skink), four species of frog (all rare and endangered) and the tuatara (reptiles resembling lizards but with a distinct lineage)".
"Some butterflies of New Zealand are endemic, while many species have been introduced and some species of butterflies periodically migrate to New Zealand from elsewhere".
"The Australian painted lady has been known to migrate from Australia to New Zealand in times of strong migration in Australia".
"The birds of New Zealand evolved into an avifauna that included many endemic species found in no other country".
"As an island archipelago New Zealand accumulated bird diversity to such an extent that when Captain James Cook arrived in the 1770s he noted that the bird song was deafening".
That was a fascinating fact for us to learn considering that we were having a similar experience with birdsong in Wadestown and there are far fewer birds in New Zealand now than there were then.
One can only imagine how extraordinary that bird song must have sounded when Captain arrived on those shores.
"When humans arrived in New Zealand about 700 years ago the environment changed quickly".
"Several species were hunted to extinction, most notably the moa (Dinornithidae) and Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei)".
"The most damage was caused by habitat destruction and the other animals humans brought with them, particularly rats – the Polynesian rat or kiore introduced by Māori and the brown rat and black rat subsequently introduced by Europeans".
"Mice, dogs, cats, stoats, weasels, pigs, goats, deer, hedgehogs, and Australian possums also put pressure upon native bird species".
"The flightless birds were especially sensitive".
"Consequently, many bird species became extinct, and others remain critically endangered".
"Several species are now confined only to offshore islands, or to fenced "ecological islands" from which predators have been eliminated".
"New Zealand is today a world leader in the techniques required to bring severely endangered species back from the brink of extinction".
We would be visiting Zealandia, one of these "ecological islands" just a few days later and we were very impressed with what we saw.
One cannot help but be saddened, however that wildlife that had thrived for thousands of years in that beautiful, wild land, was driven to extinction within a few hundred years after the arrival of human beings.
The flightless feathered giants of New Zealand
New Zealand’s iconic kiwis
The 5 different species of kiwi
The flightless New Zealand kiwi
The takahe and friends
Clumsy flyers
The extinct New Zealand Moa - almost prehistoric looking
Bird or dinosaur?
The New Zealand Falcon as seen at the Brancott Estate in Blenheim
The Kaka parrot as seen and HEARD outside our bedroom window in Wadestown every morning
The beautiful Tui as seen everywhere in New Zealand
A pretty little fantail as seen at Cloudy Bay vineyard in Marlborough
The mollymawk albatross as seen in Wellington a few days earlier
The many penguin species in New Zealand
The albatross of New Zealand
New Zealand sea life
Life below New Zealand’s ocean waves
New Zealand’s lizards and clumsy flyers
New Zealand’s ancient animals that link us with a past that no longer exists anywhere else
Wild New Zealand
Wellington's Colossal Squid
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_squid
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/colossal-squid-at-the-te-papa-museum
The next thing we saw at that museum was totally overwhelming.
It was Wellington's colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) which "is part of the family Cranchiidae."
"It is sometimes called the Antarctic squid or giant cranch squid and is believed to be the largest squid species in terms of mass".
"It is the only recognized member of the genus Mesonychoteuthis and is known from only a small number of specimens."
"The species is confirmed to reach a mass of at least 495 kilograms (1,091 lb), though the largest specimens—known only from beaks found in sperm whale stomachs—may perhaps weigh as much as 600–700 kilograms (1,300–1,500 lb), making it the largest-known invertebrate in the world.
"Maximum total length has been estimated at 9–10 metres (30–33 ft)."
"This species shares anatomy similar to other members of its family although it is the only member of Cranchiidae to display hooks on its arms and tentacles"(imagine being caught up in that)
"It is known to inhabit the circumantarctic Southern Ocean".
"Although little is known about the behaviour, it is known to use bioluminescence to attract prey".
"Additionally, it is presumed to be an ambush predator, and is a major prey of the sperm whale".
"The first specimens were discovered and described in 1925".
"In 1981, an adult specimen was discovered, and in 2003 a second specimen was collected".
"The San Aspiring, a New Zealand fishing boat, caught the colossal squid in February of 2007".
"The crew was fishing with baited hooks, and unexpectedly they caught a 500 kg colossal squid that was nibbling on an Antarctic toothfish".
"The squid was barely alive and close to death, so they brought it into the freezer of the ship as a specimen".
"It is now on display with a second specimen at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa" where we saw them both that day.
With creatures like that under the waves, we certainly don't need to invent sea monsters
The Colossal Squid at Te Papa
Why there are so many earthquakes and volcanoes in New Zealand?
https://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Earthquakes/Earthquakes-at-a-Plate-Boundary/Plate-Collision-in-NZ
The final exhibition we went to at Te Papa that afternoon was all about New Zealand's earthquakes and its rather numerous volcanoes.
"An earthquake is a sudden motion or trembling in the crust caused by the abrupt release of accumulated stress along a fault, otherwise known as a break in the Earth’s crust".
"Earthquakes in New Zealand occur because the country is located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate".
"These plates are colliding with huge force, causing one to slowly grind over, under or alongside the other".
"As the brittle crust gives way under the pressure, a fault ruptures and an earthquake is unleashed".
"As violent and horrific as they can be, earthquakes have helped create New Zealand’s varied landscape through complex processes of mountain building and erosion".
"Plate Collision in NZ Earthquakes are a response to the motion between plates".
"As two plates push together at a steady rate, the rocks along the boundary become more and more stressed until eventually something has to give - and an earthquake occurs along a fault somewhere in the plate boundary zone".
"It's similar to bending a stick. As you bend it with increasing force, the stick becomes more and more deformed until eventually it breaks ("earthquake!") and each of the two pieces of the stick spring back to being more or less straight, but in a new position relative to each other".
"In New Zealand, the Australian and Pacific Plates push against each other along a curving boundary".
"How they meet each other changes along the boundary".
"At the southern end of the South Island, the Australian Plate dives down (subducts) below the Pacific Plate whilst in the North Island the opposite situation occurs with the Pacific Plate being pushed under by the Australian Plate".
"In between, through most of the South Island, the two plates grind past each other along the Alpine Fault".
"The Hikurangi Trough marks the collision boundary to the east of the North Island, and is where oceanic lithosphere (the Pacific Plate) descends beneath the North Island as a huge inclined slab".
"As a result of this subduction, magmas are created at depth that give rise to New Zealand's active volcanoes".
Volcanoes / Types of Volcanoes & Eruptions
If we had learnt anything about New Zealand in our time there thus far, it is that is has a lot of active volcanoes and "a high frequency of eruptions".
I had read that "there are three major types of volcano in New Zealand and that volcanic activity there occurs in six areas, five in the North Island and one offshore in the Kermadec Islands", located 800–1,000 km northeast of New Zealand's North Island.
"Volcanoes in New Zealand are grouped into areas of more intensive and long-lived activity, whose position (and the composition of the lavas erupted) can be related to the large-scale movement of the tectonic plates in the New Zealand region".
"Most New Zealand volcanism in the last 1.6 million years has occurred in the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ)".
"This zone extends from Whakaari/White Island to Ruapehu."
"Mount Ruapehu is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in New Zealand's north island".
"It is located 23 kilometres northeast of Ohakune and 23 km southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupo, within the Tongariro National Park".
"The Taupo Volcanic Zone is extremely active on a world scale: it includes three frequently active cone volcanoes (Ruapehu, Tongariro/Ngauruhoe, Whakaari/White Island), and two of the most productive calderas in the world (Okataina and Taupo)".
We were looking forward to travelling to Taupo a few days later but after reading this we were beginning to wonder whether it was such a good idea after all.
Te Papa's earthquake house
One of the most extraordinary things I had ever done was visit the Earthquake House at Te Papa that afternoon.
New Zealand's Earthquake Commission had been involved in the design of Te Papa's Earthquake House
I had read that this incentive had supported the New Zealand school curriculum on the topic of earthquakes.
I must say that a few minutes in that house definitely brings home the reality of earthquakes in every day life in New Zealand.
The house shows "how easily and unexpectedly earthquake hazards could occur in homes", claimed EQC's Deputy Chief Executive Renée Walker.
"The house clearly demonstrates what damage can be done if one does not take steps to prepare for sudden earthquake occurrence in advance."
"On entering the house, guests are greeted by two characters renovating their home: an aunty and her nephew".
"You see them joking about earthquakes at first until a 'real' one hits and they assume their safety positions".
At that point the 10 people admitted into the house are treated to an earthquake experience themselves..
The house tremors at first but then it starts shaking so powerfully that it jolts you completely out of your comfort zone.
The locals in our midst, clearly accustomed to earthquake avoidance strategies were far more relaxed and light hearted about the experience (based on our daughter and her partner's Health and Safety talks at Bats Theatre on earthquake evacuation strategies, we assumed that in New Zealand, earthquake drills at work and in schools are likely to be as common as fire drills in the UK).
But the foreign tourists among us, such as ourselves, were far more disconcerted by the experience.
We were sad to read later that the opening of a new even more all singing and dancing earthquake house will mark the end of the road for the old exhibit which has been part of the museum since it opened in 1998.
"Since it opened 1.6m people have been through its doors and the house has shaken more than 1.3 million times".
"The house was originally designed to replicate the 6.6-magnitude Edgecumbe earthquake of 1987".
"Old footage from the house has acquired cult status in New Zealand, according to a statement from the museum and Te Papa will be looking at options to make it available online".
But, it appears that the way New Zealanders now think about earthquakes has changed dramatically since Te Papa opened its doors 21 years ago,"
"The new Te Taio Nature exhibit will feature dozens of other new interactive experiences including the ability for users to create their own tsunami and weigh-in against a giant moa".
Definitely something to look forward to (for want of a better expression) when we return there in the future.
New Zealand’s White Island’s latest eruption on 9 December 2019 : photo courtesy of https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/22/new-zealand-volcano-death-toll-rises-to-19)
Mount Tongariro in the Taupo volcanic zone where we would be a few days later. Photo courtesy of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tongariro)
Mount Ruapehu : an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, where we would be travelling to next : photo courtesy of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ruapehu
Air Asia Fight Cancelled
We had spent almost the entire day at Wellington's excellent Te Papa Tongarewa Museum.
It was almost 6:00 pm when we left and we had been so absorbed by everything we saw that we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast; we therefore decided to go to Panhead in Tory Street for one of their excellent pale ales and some food.
Panhead also had very good WiFi which would give us the opportunity to check emails and WhatsApp messages.
Unfortunately we were not so well connected in our rainforest accommodation location up in Wadestown so whilst in Wellington we had very little contact with the outside world.
We had an excellent meal at Panhead and even managed to get in touch with our daughter who invited us to another 'Best of Wellington Fringe' event at the Tapere Nui Theatre In Dixon Street at 9:00 pm so we had time to check emails and messages before having to set off.
It was at that point that we noticed an email from Air Asia stating that our flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur had been cancelled due to border closures between Singapore and Malaysia.
I had also received a message from EasyJet inviting me to reschedule my trip to Rome from London in April at no extra cost.
When we connected to WhatsApp, I was amazed at how many messages I had received from concerned friends from the UK, Italy, Germany, the US and KL.
It was like early January again when we were caught up in the wildfire lockdowns in Australia.
This time people appeared genuinely concerned for our safety and two good friends from Italy urged us to stay in New Zealand if we could as we would be far safer there than anywhere in Europe.
Our friends from KL were wondering how we would get back home as we certainly wouldn't be able to travel from Singapore to KL and then onto Vietnam where we had booked our return flight to the UK from.
The friend I would be travelling to Italy with in April appeared to have received the same email from EasyJet and she felt that it would not be safe to travel to Italy in April so she strongly advised that we should reschedule our trip to October or cancel it altogether.
After reading all of this my head was spinning.
Our past few days of almost complete news blackout had distanced us completely from what was happening in Europe and in Asia with regard to that dreadful virus.
I immediately checked news reports online and discovered that Italy had confirmed 342 new cases of Covid 19 and 18 further deaths, bringing the total number to 2,064 and 52, respectively.
The UK confirmed three additional cases, taking the total to 39. Several news reports in UK publications predicted that the UK was just a few weeks behind Italy and that the situation in Italy would deteriorate further before anything improved.
The US had confirmed 13 more cases, bringing the total number to 102. Five more deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total number to 6.
Singapore had confirmed two more cases, bringing the total number to 108, which is why Malaysia had now closed its borders to flights from Singapore.
By the time we had checked news reports and responded to concerned messages from friends and family abroad, it was time to meet our daughter at the Tapere Nui Theatre in Dixon Street.
Apart from our daughter's partner, the line-up of comedians was totally different from before and all were extremely entertaining in their own distinctive ways, but on this occasion our minds were not completely on what we were seeing but on what we had read moments before.
If we could not travel from Singapore to KL then onto Hanoi how would we return home at all?
Would we need to book flights via a different route and if we did that would those flights home be guaranteed or could other borders close in the interim?
It was all very stressful and worrying.
We shared our concerns with the others in the car on the way home and they too had received messages from friends all over asking what they planned to do.
Their approach was far more relaxed than ours at that point.
They accepted that the situation abroad, especially in Italy was not good but New Zealand still appeared to have no confirmed cases of Covid 19 so for now at least they advised that we should continue enjoying our time there as much as possible but contact our travel insurance providers for advice on travel back to the UK if SE Asia's borders continued to remain closed.
It was good advice and clearly the logical thing to do but I did also wonder whether we should take our Italian friends' advice and see whether we could stay in New Zealand until this whole thing had blown over.
Now, in our second year in and out of lockdown here in the UK, I really do wish we had done that