Upcoming Events
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28 June to 6 September 2026
Exhibition - Stone, Sea and Stone
A joint exhibition celebrating Matariki with an exhibition at the Pariwhero Gallery, Owhiro Bay, Wellington. Open weekends 12pm-4pm. More info here.
5 July 2026
Follow-up Hui: Forest Thinking for Ocean Futures
Date: Sunday 5 July
Drop in: 1.00pm–3.00pm, join early for a rescreening of Seaweed, A Love Story (12.40pm-1.00pm)
Address: The Esplanade, Island Bay, Wellington (you’ll receive the exact address when you RSVP for the event).
Join us to share the ideas, actions, and strategies that have emerged from your feedback on 20 May. This is an opportunity to deepen insights and explore pathways for action together. For those who were unable to attend the first hui, this is a chance to connect, hear the kōrero, and add your voice. Please bring a plate to share, and to savour both the food and the ideas on what it means to think like a forest.
RSVP by email to exploreyourcoast@gmail.com.
6 July 2026
Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne School Holiday Programme!
FREE – Join us from 10am to 12pm on Monday, 6 July. More Info (link).
Dive under the waves of Wellington by taking a fully immersive 360-degree dive on VR headsets and learn about our local marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Get inspired by underwater explorer, filmmaker and Explore Your Coast founder Nicole Miller and ask all your questions about marine life, scuba diving and dive gear! Suitable for all ages.
Bringing the marine world into schools!
With support from Wellington City Council, the BRC Charitable Trust, The Vogelmorn Foundation and private sponsors, we brought the short documentary ‘Seaweed, A Love Story‘ to Wellington schools. Some of the students experienced a virtual dive in Taputeranga Marine Reserve on VR headsets! Read more about our school programme here. Get in touch if you want to bring the programme to your school.
Past Events
Mindful Kelp Walk along Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington Harbour
21 June 2026, Scorching Bay, Miramar Peninsula. Join us for a mindful coastal walk along Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington Harbour hosted by marine scientist Dr Marjan van den Belt and Explore Your Coast. Part of the walk will be in silence, creating space to connect more deeply with the harbour and our relationship with it.
We will also reflect on the state of the harbour and explore questions about its future. We might look at beach cast seaweeds, explore what’s under the surface or look through a VR headset. We will learn from each other, from the harbour, and from the questions that emerge along the way.
Exhibition - Aquanauts, Astronauts and Wondernauts
30 May to 1 June 2026, Waiheke Island – Open Studios 2026. Dive into this joint exhibition at the Kim Wesney Studio Gallery on Waiheke Island and explore outer space, ocean depth and the many wonders of our natural environment. More about the exhibition here. All profits from the sale of Nicole Miller’s ocean- and seaweed-inspired art support the education and outreach initiatives by Explore Your Coast.
From Insight to Action: Forest Thinking for Ocean Futures
20 May 2026. An interactive workshop exploring how we can restore our land and ocean ecosystems in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Featuring two powerful short documentaries Think Like a Forest and Seaweed, A Love Story, this event connects the challenges facing our forests and oceans, and showcases real examples of how degraded environments can recover when we work with nature.
More info on https://exploreyourcoast.co.nz/oceanfutures
Exploring Creative Storytelling for Ocean Action
Kau Bay Bioblitz & City Nature Challenge
Oceans of the Mind
New Zealand Ocean Movie Festival
28 March 2026, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth
Featuring three short ocean documentaries highlighting the incredible conservation work of three kiwi citizen science projects:
South Taranaki Bight: REEF REVOLUTION (2019): Featuring Project Reef Life – South Taranaki, Hauraki Gulf: MANTA WATCH (2022): Featuring Manta Watch New Zealand, Wellington: SEAWEED, A LOVE STORY (2025): Featuring Explore Your Coast. FREE – sponsored by Wild for Taranaki and Taranaki – like no other.
31 March 2026, Waiheke Community Centre
Part of the 2026 Tāmaki Makaurau EcoFest. We’ll be celebrating the beauty and importance of our underwater forests and community action, including local kelp regeneration efforts with Waiheke Marine Project, followed by a panel discussion about the future of our underwater forests.
Nicole Miller’s artworks will be available for purchase with all profits supporting Explore Your Coast.
TALK - A Look Under The Waves of Wellington
17 November 2025, Wellington Botanical Society, Victoria University of Wellington. Drawing on years of diving, photography and local restoration work, Nicole will highlight the beauty and fragility of the towering seaweed forests and colourful sponge gardens of Wellington’s coastline. Like forests on land, these underwater habitats support a remarkable diversity of life, yet they face growing pressure from human activity and environmental change and it is more important than ever to bring changes to the surface.
10-16 November 2025, Thistle Hall
Joint exhibition with Margaret Elliot, Mary Livingstone and Nicole Miller. Read about the exhibition and evening events here.
All profits from Nicole Miller’s artworks sold support Explore Your Coast.
15 November 2025, Thistle Hall
Take a cinematic dive into Wellington’s underwater forests, meet the artists behind the exhibition Gifts from the Sea and find out how creativity shapes our bond with the ocean during a special artists Q&A following the documentary.
Bringing the marine world into schools!
Sep & Oct 2025. With support from our private sponsor we brought the short documentary ‘Seaweed, A Love Story‘ to schools, talked about life on our rocky reefs, donated learning resources to the school libraries and took some of the students on scuba dives on VR headsets! Schools visited include Berhampore, Ōwhiro Bay and Redwood School. Read more about our school programme here.
Movie Screening at VUW
22 October 2025, hosted by VUW Society for Conservation Biology
Screening of the award-winning short documentary Seaweed, A Love Story, followed by a Q&A with Explore Your Coast founder Nicole Miller and the Society for Conservation Biology. Discover the wonders of Wellington’s coastal marine ecosystems and take part in a discussion on the threats they face and the efforts underway to protect them.
Exhibition - Underwater Forests of Wellington
August/September 2025, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne Gallery, Wellington
Much like the ancient forests of Zealandia and Otari Wilton Bush, the towering underwater forests along Wellington’s coast form rich and diverse habitats. Centered on striking photographs and artworks, the exhibition reveals the extraordinary diversity and the marine life seaweeds sustain within our coastal waters and highlights the urgent need to protect these vital ecosystems. All profits from artworks sold support Explore Your Coast.
Explore Wellington's Marine World in VR
27 September 2025, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne School Holiday Programme!
Dive under the waves of Wellington by taking a fully immersive 360-degree dive on VR headsets and learn about our local marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Get inspired by underwater explorer, filmmaker and Explore Your Coast founder Nicole Miller and ask all your questions about marine life, scuba diving and dive gear! Suitable for all ages.
Exploring Kāpiti's Marine World
19 September 2025, St Peter’s Village Hall, Paekākāriki
This interactive event brings the marine world of the Kāpiti Coast to life through film, discussion, art and immersive storytelling as part of Kāpiti Coast District Council Sustainable Spring Programme. Thank you to all attendees and sponsors! All profits from the event support Explore Your Coast. More info: www.exploreyourcoast.co.nz/explorekapiti
South Coast Arts Trail 2025
13-14 September 2025, Island Bay, Wellington
Browse Nicole Miller’s striking photographs and artworks that reveal the extraordinary diversity and the marine life seaweeds sustained within our coastal waters. You can also take a 360-degree immersive dive tour of Taputeranga Marine Reserve. All profits from artworks sold support Explore Your Coast.
Seaweed Movie & Seaweed Beer
28 August 2025, Heyday Beer Co, Wellington
A NIGHT INSPIRED BY SEAWEED – with seaweed on the screen and in your glass. Watch the short documentary ‘SEAWEED, A Love Story’, followed by a Q&A with film lead Nicole Miller. Explore seaweed art and enjoy HEYDAY’s UNDERWATER FOREST Peated Kelp Stout .
TALK - A Look Under The Waves of Wellington
20 August 2025, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, Wellington
This Conservation Kōrero takes you on a visual journey through Wellington’s Blue Belt and explores current conservation successes & challenges. Drawing on years of diving, photography and local restoration work, Nicole will highlight the beauty and fragility of the towering seaweed forests and colourful sponge gardens of Wellington’s coastline. Like forests on land, these underwater habitats support a remarkable diversity of life, yet they face growing pressure from human activity and environmental change and it is more important than ever to bring changes to the surface.
TALK - Shipwrecks of Aotearoa: The Changing World Beneath the Waves
29 July 2025, University of Third Age (U3A), Wellington City
Shipwrecks connect us to the sea and our past, offering powerful reminders of both history and transformation. In this visual talk, Dr. Nicole Miller takes us on a journey through some of Aotearoa’s most significant shipwrecks, using them as windows into the ecological shifts unfolding beneath the waves. From thriving marine life to kelp forest decline, urchin barrens, and the growing threat of oil spills, this talk reveals how change is shaping the world below the surface of the sea.
Gallery Opening - Studio Te Mapunga
20 July 2025, Studio Te Mapunga, Island Bay
Bronze and Ceramic Sculpture by Jenny Hartley & Tanya Ashken. Paintings by Ian Logan, Bill Allan, Gavin Griffith-Jones, Douglas McArthur, Kathryn Furniss, Neal Palmer, Els Noordhof and large scale photographic prints by Nicole Miller. Nicole’s ocean-inspired art will be available for purchase at the gallery with all profits supporting Explore Your Coast.
Movie screening with Q&A and kina tasting, Wellington
19 July 2025, Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, Wellington
Fundraising screening of Seaweed, A Love Story, followed by a Q&A with RPNYC Clean Club lead and Nicole Miller. After the film, we’ll be cooking up some of our favourite kina recipes – with a few seaweed sprinkles, of course! It’s a fun chance to see how they are prepared and try these local delicacies.
Movie screening with Q&A with local representatives, Wellington
12 June 2025, Vogelmorn Bowling Club
Join us for a screening of Seaweed, A Love Story, followed by a Q&A with followed by a special Q&A session with local representatives, including Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter and GWRC regional councillor Quentin Duthie.
TALK - Shipwrecks and the Hidden Life of Our Coast
22 May 2025, Thistle Hall, Wellington
A talk for anyone interested in shipwrecks, New Zealand’s maritime history and the marine life around New Zealand. I’ll be touching on urchin grazing, seabed mining, the looming oil spill threat in the Hauraki Gulf and local Wellington shipwrecks.
At the Thistle Hall as part of the shipwreck exhibition ‘Fair winds and following seas.