Published: 03.12.2025
National Kiwi Hatchery – interesting but lacking deeper emotional resonance
Today we visited the National Kiwi Hatchery. The visit was informative and well-structured, and I learned a lot about the kiwi that I didn't know before. The work of the people there is impressive, professionally solid, and clearly organized.
Still, for me, it was more of an experience on the same level as the spa visit yesterday: pleasant, interesting, "nice to know." It didn't deeply touch or profoundly move me. I consciously perceived it, but without that inner resonance point that sometimes emotionally connects me to encounters or experiences.
A good itinerary point on the trip – valuable as an experience, but without a deeper personal aftertaste.
A brief incident reshaped our day: our planned flight was canceled, so we can’t continue from our original departure point as intended. Instead, we head back to Auckland – a 2.5-hour bus ride that we can simply accept and, if looked at positively, also enjoy. From there, we will fly to Christchurch next, completely uncomplicated, with just a little extra piece of travel in our luggage. For me, it's ideal to start writing the travel diary along the way.
Prior to that, we made a stop at Kuirau Park. The steaming springs, the bubbling, the color of the water – truly impressive to see, no doubt about that. Especially the warning sign made me smile: nearly 100 degrees, definitely not a place for a foot bath. You could see that beautifully in the video for the family. And still: as spectacular as nature is there, it touches me less than the people we encounter. The landscape tells its stories, but the people tell me the more exciting ones. So the visit remains a good memory – interesting, nice to look at, but not the kind of experience that captivates me personally.
