Summer holidays and grey skies aren't the best combination when you are surrounded by nice beaches, but luckily Auckland has plenty of other things to do.
We frequent Auckland Zoo very often thanks to our Zoo passes and located nearby, on the other side of Western Springs park from the Zoo is MOTAT, the Museum of Transport and Technology.
The museum was established back in the 1960's to preserve a collection of transport heritage, and the main location is built on the site of the old pumping station at Western springs. The neighboring park and it's spring used to be one of the main water supplies for Auckland, hence the pumping station. MOTAT is underpinned by some great Auckland history.
There is a second site way over on the other side of the Zoo which houses the Aviation hall. Old Trams run between the 2 sites and are a common site along great North Road trundling passed the Park and the Zoo.
Today the museum collection is home to over 300,000 items and employs more than 300 staff.
I haven't visited MOTAT in a long time, so it's always nice to see what's changed. This time though we were experiencing it via the short attention span of a Toddler, so I'm going to be a little light on detail today I'm afraid! Hopefully the maps and pictures provide the extra insight.
Tickets and Parking
Adults are $19 each, children $10 each (under 5's are free). A family pass for 2 adults and up to 4 children is $45 (which is the best option even if you have even 1 child over 5)
Parking can be tricky depending on the day. Any available parking in the area is competing with the Zoo and Western Springs Park. My recommendation would be to try for parking at the Aviation Hall, or roadside by the Park but far away from the Zoo.
There is a great little Cafe onsite too, so no need to worry about food and drink. Just don't take your Coffee on the Tram, I got a telling off for that.
There are a number of small buildings housing differently themed exhibitions, such as Telecommunications, Computers, Cars, a Fire station, a working Print Shop, Tram and vehicle workshops and even model railways. Each despite their small size is a great collection and very interesting.
Auckland used to have a large Tram Network as you can see from the below Map. Someone at some point had the bright idea to discard the entire network in favour of roads, and the rest is history - Auckland's notorious traffic. What remains of the Trams is all here at MOTAT. They run on their route to the Aviation Hall regularly, and are all housed and maintained on site.
I really like walking around the outside areas of MOTAT, as a lot of it is easy on the eye thanks to it's classic aesthetic and the tram lines running through the 'streets'
The largest building, #5, years ago used to be crammed full of cars and was the highlight. Nowadays, building 5 is seemingly empty, with some small science exhibitions dotted around and the hall is largely used for activities now. The car collection is now a lot smaller and located in shed #2. Next door in Shed #3 is the old Pump house, which has working machinery and is very interesting.
Jump of the Tram near the entrance and take a ride past the Park and Zoo to the Aviation Hall. You'll need your tickets to both board the Tram and enter the Aviation hall building.
The Aviation Hall is one enormous building, or do we call it a Hangar? Prominently displayed in the Carpark to greet you is a replica of Hurricane, a British WWII fighter plane.
The Hanger stretches back quite a way. The first part has a lower ceiling with planes parked on the ground, and toward the back it opens up to an impressive sight with planes everywhere - on the floor and hanging from the ceiling!
One minor annoyance was that periodically all the lights dim so a video on a screen can play and it went on for what felt like eternity - we had to wait a good 15 minutes for the lights to come back on before we could see everything, so bear that in mind if it's dark whilst you are there, just be patient.
In Closing
MOTAT is a great place to visit if you have an interest in history, vehicles and technology. It would not be high up on my list of places to entertain a Toddler, but older kids would certainly enjoy it. The value is reasonable considering the two sites and the tram rides but I'm disassociated they got ride of most of the cars - that display used to be as impressive as the planes, still, the planes help make up for that.
Thanks for reading!
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