If it has wheels, wings or will send you broke the National Toy and Transport Museum probably has it. The museum sits just outside Wanaka and is housed across several large buildings and hangars and is easily the biggest collection of collections we’ve seen in our many travels. On cars alone it dwarfs LA’s Peterson’s Automotive museum in quantity and variety but it doesn’t stop there, there are all manner of toys, vintage and modern, quirky hand built machines and planes… and a tank. Some sections are grouped into type (eg. Trucks) and sub type (eg. Fire trucks) while other items seemed to have been added where ever there was space at the time, which ends up being like a little easter egg hunt, for example, finding a random slot machine wedged between two trucks.
Even if you’re not overly interested in toys or vehicles, there’s just so much there, its hard to look away and just when you think you can, something else catches your eye, so the easiest way to narrate the day would be a photo dump. Enjoy!
Travel tip: we were there on a week day, early afternoon, numbers were very low and it was a breeze to move between sections and spend a few extra minutes getting an unobstructed photo. However, with some of the spaces being a little cramped eg. Between toy displays and aisles of cars it could get a bit squishy during school holidays or if you bumped into a couple school excursions.
Next up, we wind down this NZ trip with a day at Willowbank Zoo and New Brighton Beach.
Qld Model Hobbies Expo 8-9/9/12
A couple weeks back the Brisbane Table Tennis Centre once again became home for the QMHE – Qld Model Hobbies Expo, a weekend of scale model displays, workshops and competitions.
Being our first time out, we weren’t too sure what to expect but definitely weren’t disappointed with hundreds of builds on display from the basic kit projects to ultra realistic reproductions. Subjects covered the usual military, automotive and flying machines and on to fictional spacecraft, anime mecha warriors reenacted movie scenes to the straight up weird.
Retailers were also out in force selling all the staples along with some very specific items, you know its serious business when there’s a store pretty much only selling tiny metal facades for those wanting that final touch of authenticity. Unfortunately a lot of places were selling full blown RRP (and then some) but there were the odd jewels of exhibition specials and paints at “I’ll take two!” kind of prices.
All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple hours with a lot of very passionate builders only too happy to gush about their latest creation.
Complete QMHE photos gallery here
