Motat is a fascinating museum of transport and technology located in Western Springs a suburb of Auckland. It has an amazing collection of historic vehicles of all types and plenty of heritage and history which will entertain delight and fascinate visitors for hours. The large property is beautifully themed with many heritage style buildings and artefacts to give you a real feeling of what New Zealand was like years ago. There are some incredible vehicles on display from cars, trucks, planes, trains and trams, in-fact the tram is a working exhibit offering trips around the complex and to the nearby annex exhibition which houses many of the aircraft exhibitions. The site was once home to a huge pump which serviced Auckland’s water supply, today this incredible piece of Victorian machinery has been restored and is housed in an beautiful brick building looking more like artwork than a piece of machinery, it is really an incredible sight. Motat also features a historic village with many small cottages all decked out with their heritage fittings and furnishings, they are very interesting and give you a real feel of how people lived years ago.
Well New Zealand is known for its sheep and there’s no better way to get up close to these woolly critters than a visit to Sheepworld. Sheepworld is located about a 40 minute drive through the scenic country side to the north of Auckland and offers a truly New Zealand farm experience. Not only does sheepworld have plenty of sheep they give visitors a wonderful insight into the importance of the New Zealand wool industry, its production, and uses. There are sheep shearing demonstrations, sheep dog shows and plenty of farm animals including sheep, donkeys, goats, calves, pigs to see. There’s even a few emu and pesky possums from Australia on show. The expansive farmland is also a great place to explore and have a picnic making a real day of it. Don’t forget to bring a few dollars for the great gift shop either, there are some really cool things to buy.
The Auckland Skytower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and stands high above what is a fairly low rise city in comparison to Asia and even Australia. The concrete tower is a pretty impressive structure and can be seen miles before you see the skyline of the city. Standing at 328 metres or 1076 feet in the old scale the tower offers spectacular views of up to 80 kilometres from the observation decks on a good day. There are several floors, the highest viewing floor is at 200 metres, there’s a restaurant at 194 metres, and another at 190 metres, while the second observation deck is at 186 metres with a sky lounge a floor below. For thrill seekers the tower offers a heat stopping sky jump where you can leap off the tower and fall at 85 kilometres an hour to the ground. Also for the not so faint hearted, there is a exterior walk around the tower, this give visitors the chance to walk around a 1.2 metre walkway 192 metres up in the air… you would have to be mad, think I will stick with the tasty buffet!
We are celebrating May as New Zealand month. Today we are kicking the festivities off with one of New Zealand’s more unique tourist attractions. It’s grey and bubbly and it sure does stink. These geo-thermal mud pools are found just outside of Rotorua which is in the centre of the North Island. The area is rich in volcanic activity and there are quite a few of these mud pools, hot springs and spectacular geysers. The boiling mud bubbles away and puts on a pretty interesting show with slops of mud shooting into the sky giving off a very smelly sulphur like smell. Believe it or not the mud is meant to have some pretty good properties for the skin, now don’t touch the mud in the open, as it is likely to be very hot, look out for mud packs and soaps in the tourist shops around Rotorua- you won’t miss it. There are quite a few tourist parks which feature the mud shows but we have found a free attraction within about half an hour’s drive of the Rotorua CBD. It’s a magnificent drive along the Thermal Explorer Highway to a small township called Waiotapa. There are some mud baths not far from the pub and service station, near Waikite Valley Road. Read more to see map.
There have been more calls for a common border between New Zealand and Australia, this time from discount airline Jetstar. By removing customs and immigration between the two countries the flights will be classed as a domestic and not an international flight, Jetstar see this is an opportunity to fly to cheaper airports like it does at Avalon outside Melbourne. The savings can run up to $60 per flight of costs that can be written off and it’s this that tourism body’s and even Australian Prime Minister Keven Rudd have been counting on to boost tourism between the two countries. There’s probably a few details to sort out before anything happens (both countries have learnt their lessons on quarantine with rabbits and possums) but things are looking promising enough that one day a weekend in Sydney is as easy as a weekend in Auckland. Read the rest of this entry »
Te Papa Museum is the Museum of New Zealand and would have to be one of the best museums found anywhere in the world located on Wellington’s beautiful waterfront the Te Papa has an amazing range of exhibits which will educate young and old and a great way to learn about New Zealand, its people, its land and its culture.
There are spectacular animal exhibits which show some of New Zealand’s unusual wild life, a dinosaur hall and very interesting earthquake exhibition. There are always special exhibits showing and the museum and kids will love the discovery centres which are specially tailored to the young.
The museum building itself is an amazing structure, taking over four years to construct making it one of the largest museum projects in the world. Interestingly the building is built on huge shock absorbers to protect the centre’s priceless collection from ground movements during regular New Zealand earthquakes.
You have got to love the New Zealand accent and their beautiful country. There’s more than sheep on the land of the long white cloud there is some of the worlds most spectacular wilderness, great adventures and really fun loving friendly locals.- they just talk a bit funny!
