2 minute read
Taranaki - Museums of Almost Everything
PUKE ARIKI
HILLSBOROUGH CAR MUSEUM
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FUN HO! TOY MUSEUM
PIONEER VILLAGE
TAWHITI MUSEUM AND WHALERS & TRADERS
AOTEA UTANGANUI
MAKETAWA JOHN DEERE TRACTOR MUSEUM
Tawhiti Museum up close
From volcanic inception to pioneering innovation, by way of war and passive resistance, the vibrant and vivid history of Taranaki is best explored through the region’s many museums.
Puke Ariki © Peter Burchell
The region offers many museums at which to discover many stories about Taranaki, from South Taranaki where there is the stunning Tawhiti Museum, and its impressive Traders & Whalers ride – repeatedly judged the third best museum in New Zealand by TripAdvisor users – to New Plymouth’s waterfront Puke Ariki, Aotea Utanganui in Pātea, to Stratford’s Pioneer Village.
The New Plymouth Guided Historic Walk is a fabulous walking tour that brings the past to life with stories of the city’s pioneering past and the colourful characters. Learn about pistol duels at dawn on the now main street, to strong independent pioneering women, Marsland Hill, sites of the New Zealand land wars, and St Mary’s Cathedral, the oldest stone church in New Zealand. Discover a range of private collections, spanning the interesting and eclectic, from the Hillsborough Holden Museum to Hāwera’s Elvis Presley Museum, Maketawa John Deere Tractor Museum to Inglewood’s Fun Ho! National Toy Museum.
Tawhiti Museum up close
