Journey to New Edinburgh was a massive undertaking, involving countless hours of writing, planning, travelling, filming, editing, editing, editing, and editing. And it involved a journey back to Edinburgh that almost didn’t happen.

In early 2020, the boys at Toitū were preparing to take off for the UK, getting everything they needed for the big trip to film their most ambitious documentary yet. But those plans were all put on hold indefinitely when the world shut down. We spent months cooped up in our houses, waving at neighbours from across the street, and tuning in to the daily updates from the Prime Minister every afternoon.

A wee while down the track in 2022, after borders reopened and planes starting flying with regularity again, the boys got the word – the trip is back on. Except this time, they had mere weeks to plan the logistics. All those motels, ferries, farm visits, and the like, had to be reorganised in only one month. God knows how they pulled it off, but they did. Masked up and ready to take to the skies, the boys were dropped at Dunedin airport, on their way to a whirlwind trip across the British Isles.

We move on to episode 2 this week, An Ideal Settlement. Holding out for an idealised vision of an exclusively Free Church colony at Dunedin, William Cargill and Thomas Burns struggled to get their concept over the line. But in late 1847 there was a breakthrough and the first ships finally set sail for Otago.