After a week on the road in our campervan, we made it to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. The campervan was a great way to explore the country, but morning temperatures were gradually getting colder, and we weren’t packed accordingly.
Entering Auckland, we stopped off at the War Memorial Museum. This was both a museum and memorial, with the names of many fallen soldiers inscribed on the halls inside. The museum had exhibits ranging from the Maori Wars in the early stages of European settlement, to the Vietnam War and beyond. It was amazing to see how Kiwis were called up, historically as required for the British Empire, but still fought bravely and for the greater good of humanity. Their numbers were usually small comparatively, but their spirit and sacrifice was just as great. Some of the exhibits were also a reminder of just how massive the British Empire was during the first half of the 20th century. New Zealanders entered the WW1 as separate colonial provincial battalions, but in the end earned their Kiwi nickname and crafted a unified national identity.
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