Return to New Zealand
Published in The Straits Times, 16 August 2022:
https://www.straitstimes.com/life/travel/return-to-new-zealand
Return to New Zealand: Relive old favourites and unearth new gems as country reopens
We fall silent, treading into the dark passage. Distant cheers of spectators intensify. The gates fling open and we fall in line on the turf.
We meet our opponents, a barricade of brawny jersey-clad men.
They strike their thighs, whack their elbows and stomp the ground. "Ka mate, ka mate! Ka ora, ka ora!" they holler menacingly. Their tongues protrude, eyes bulge, veins flare. The room recoils.
This is the haka, the Maori war cry by the All Blacks rugby team before each match, and one of the world's most thrilling pre-sports displays.
It might feel like it, but we are not at a stadium.
My travel party has just observed the All Blacks life-sized in 6K resolution on a 14m-wide, 4m-high projection wall. This is already intimidating, and I can imagine how spine-chilling it must be at live games when adrenaline runs high.
One need not be a sports fan to thoroughly enjoy the All Blacks Experience, a stirring, multi-sensory showcase of how the iconic rugby team became New Zealand's national pride.
The All Blacks Experience was the first major tourist attraction to open in New Zealand since theCovid-19 pandemic, and audaciously launched in December 2020 when borders were closed.
For two years, New Zealand was shut off to the world due to its strict Covid-19 elimination strategy, earning itself the moniker "Fortress New Zealand".
Today, the drawbridge is lowered. On July 31, New Zealand's borders fully reopened to international travellers.
My return to New Zealand feels surreal. I last visited it in 2019, just before Covid-19 ravaged the world, and both trips bookend hopefully the worst of the pandemic.
Immersing myself in otherworldly, dramatic landscapes never fails to bring perspective and restoration.
One morning, we are boating on a lake in the South Island when a splendidly complete rainbow appears, framing the chestnut-hued mountains in the background.
I am told it has not rained here for weeks, but the skies shower serendipitously for several minutes almost just to bring the rainbow.
"A promise of better times ahead," I whisper to someone in my group.
Over nine days, I will explore new attractions and revisit beloved classics in New Zealand, relishing the views of windswept coastlines, lush greenery and chiselled mountains
Between the ongoing crises of the world and the unyielding beauty of New Zealand, I marvel at howparadoxically, in under three years, so much - yet so little - has changed...
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