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(Photo: "Wellington Te Papa n" by en:User:JShook – en:wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wellington_Te_Papa_n.jpg#/media/File:Wellington_Te_Papa_n.jpg)
New Zealand is a country renowned for outdoor activities, yet Wellington is home to one of the best indoor attractions you're likely to see. The Te Papa Tongarewa Museum is a perennial favorite in top 10 New Zealand posts and articles. If you're the type to put stock in TripAdvisor recommendations, Te Papa may be the best museum you'll ever visit.
Getting there
Located in the heart of Wellington on the southern shore of New Zealand's North Island, Te Papa is a short cab ride from the international airport. It's home to a wealth of knowledge on art, history, the Pacific, Māori culture and New Zealand's natural environment.
History forms culture
For locum tenens doctors, a huge part of appreciating an assignment overseas is developing an understanding of other cultures. If you secure a New Zealand assignment before 2018, you'll be able to visit Te Papa's immersive exhibit commemorating the World War I campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, where the Kiwis and Māori entered New Zealand's first war. In the words of Dr. Christopher Pugsley, "Gallipoli is important for New Zealand, because if you look back, this is the first time that we put a large body of people into a war zone, and it ended any notion that war was glorious."
Te Papa hosts an education website with an accompanying video series on the making of the exhibit.
Te Papa engaged Weta Workshop, the artisan masters behind the "Lord of the Rings" movies, to pair videos with models and new media presentations with personal stories from the war. The resulting exhibit is a visceral and poignant reminder of the cost of war.
Discover the outdoor wonders of New Zealand, and then make plans to visit Te Papa to learn more about the cultures that define this island country.