Linda Hall: Te Papa's must-see Gallipoli

The Gallipoli display in Te Papa is brilliant, says Linda Hall.

If you haven't been to Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition at Te Papa in Wellington, I suggest you put it on your to-do list.

It is absolutely extraordinary.

The larger-than-life models are incredible. I had seen them on telly and spoken to people who had been, so I was expecting it to be good.

It exceeded every expectation I had. To tell the truth, I was quite close to tears by the time I got to the end. I was talking to one of the security guards and he said he'd seen someone leaving in tears.

It's just so powerful, you need to see it for yourself.

The other thing to put on your to-do list is something much lighter: the ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream, performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company, which will be playing at the Napier Municipal Theatre on September 19 and 20.

I was lucky enough to be at the premiere on Thursday night at the St James Theatre in Wellington. It was like being transported to a magical world where the only thing I thought about was what was happening on the stage.

Brilliant.

I'll tell you more about it on the arts pages in the coming weeks.

Wellington is beautiful on a sunny day. I walked for ages along the waterfront, dodging the runners.

It made me think about what an amazing country we live in. There are so many beautiful spots (Hawke's Bay is the best, of course).

In fact, nine New Zealand spots made it on to travel guide Lonely Planet's list of the "500 best places in the world". The Fiordland National Park is in the top 20, coming in at 17.

That's pretty impressive when you think about it.

Little old New Zealand has nine of the best places to visit in the world.

The others on the list were: Abel Tasman National Park, number 35; Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, 81; Lake Wanaka, 94; Stewart Island, 125; Bay of Islands, 130; Whakarewarewa, 276; Waitomo Caves, 280; and Te Papa, 285.

Kiwis love to travel. You hear the young and the not-so-young talking about saving for their big OE or telling of their trips overseas.

I was sitting next to a lovely woman on my flight back from Wellington. She was on her way to visit family in Napier.

She lived in the South Island and was telling me about her travels around the world and her Mediterranean cruise.

I asked her if she had ever been to Fiordland, a place I would dearly love to visit.

No, she said, "and I hoped like anything nobody would ask me about it when I was overseas because I haven't been there".

She's not alone. Remember that ad on television "Don't leave home until you've seen the country?" I'm just as guilty. I haven't been to half these spots and there are plenty more I'd like to visit.

Unfortunately for us in Hawke's Bay, the cost of flights hampers our travels.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to fly off to one of these nine top spots for a reasonable price? Bring on Jetstar: I want to see the country.

-Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.