The largest museum of its kind in New Zealand, MOTAT offers a fun, interactive, and educational experience. Explore our fascinating exhibitions telling stories of the history and development of New Zealand transport, technology and Kiwi ingenuity. V...
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MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) is an Auckland institution. Housed next to Western Springs Park - and Auckland Zoo - it tells New Zealand's aviation, printing, rail, road transport, steam, military and telecommunications history via a variety of exhibitions, and also offers fun interactive activities like a challenge zone, mirror maze, Voyager1 4D simulator and steam train rides. Free entry for under-5s!
I'm very excited to see that Motat are running their Christmas evenings again this year. We went last year and it was a magical evening. Entry is by gold coin and goes to charity. So, very cheap and a great cause. Motat is lit up by lots of beautiful fairy lights and you can ride the tram. They have lots of live displays and you can buy snacks for a reasonable price (with the proceeds also going to charity). We even loved it though it was pouring with rain last year. Hoping for less rain this year!
Even if you dont have kids, this place is quite fun. Would be nicer if they did have a few more adult orientated things but you cannot have everything. I would suggest if you dont have kids though, avoid during school holidays are the crowds are insane and you will get run into. Although this place is great (especially the printing press room), compared to TATATM in taranki its not quite as good.
I remember going to MOTAT as a kid and these days I take my own kids along. It's a fun day out. The tram ride is always a highlight for my preschoolers. You can actually do this for about $1 or $2 from memory without entering MOTAT. The flight part at the end of the tram ride is well worth a look and kept our littlies entertained for quite some time. I'd also recommend the Christmas lights evenings they hold near Christmas, really pretty and a lovely evening.