We had a great time strolling through the different venues checking out information about Jean Batten, who was the first ever woman to fly direct from England to New Zealand in October 1936.

An old time school room, very different from the school rooms of today. 

Reminiscent of Dr Who’s Tardis.  Telephone boxes were very distinctive looking but like everywhere today in the name of saving money, they are no longer found. Too bad if you don’t possess a mobile phone.

This old fashioned butchers shop even had sawdust on the floor. You don’t find that nowadays. Eash week when my mother and I went shopping  he always gave me a piece of rolled up luncheon sausage. I remember my mother telling me that on they day I started school she was very upset and tearful when she went shopping and the butcher sympathetically said to her “ Oh dear, so Wanda started school today!”   He then gave her a prime rib roast for free.  Now you wouldn’t get that sort of treatment today.

You don’t see prices like this anymore. 

After strolling through the old time car section we caught the tram  (similar to this one)  to Keith Hay Park to look at the aviation section.

Replica of Sir Keith Park’s Hurrican Aircraft..  Air Vice-Marshall Sir Keith Park was a New Zealander who joined the British Air force in World War Two. He helped organise the evacuation of Dunkirk. He returned to live in New Zealand in 1948 and MOTAT’s aviation collection is named in his honour.

There is just so much interesting information available so if you are coming to Auckland make sure you check out this fabulous interactive museum. 

On the left as we entered the park through the souvenir shop, was a group of Bedford Trucks. It takes the volunteers anything up to 1000 to restore one of these beauties.

 There is an impressive array of fire engines and vehicles from all over NZ.  This one is a Holden.  We had a similar car which was grey and pink automatic which was ideal when the kids were little.

The fire engine on the left is a Dennis and the one on the right is a Leyland.

This 1960 logging rig was the first truck in NZ able to haul loads of 100 tons of logs out of the Kiangaroa forest. The truck has a 400 hp Cummins Diesel engine and a 15 speed Road Ranger Gearbox. Not bad for an old timer.

Here is a photo of the K900, the first of 30 ‘K’ engines built between 1932 and 1936 at the New Zealand Railway workshops in the Hutt Valley.

Diesel buses – old and new.

It has been many years since we visited MOTAT  which is an interactive museum depicting the life of New Zealanders over the years and the changes in technology, and it has certainly changed and grown since we last visited. The museum has expanded and includes items for enthusiasts of planes, railways, cars and trucks.

MOTAT is situated in Western Springs or Te Wai Orea (waters of the eel) which is the Maori name.  William Motions brought the land from the local Maori tribe.  As Auckland began to grow and spread out in the 1800′s, a reliable source of water was needed and so the Western Springs were damned to form a lake.  A pumphouse was built in 1877 and this pumphouse can still be seen in working order at the museum.

In the 20th century there were other sources of water available and the land was put to other uses with the pumphouse becoming a council works depot.

In 1961 the Auckland City Council established a park area around the lake and the land was offered to a group of transport and aeronautical enthusiast who turned the area into a museum.

The museum was supported by volunteers who have done an excellent job in preserving the heritage of Kiwis.  The MOTAT Act was passed in 2000 which allowed the museum to employ additional professional staff.

During visiting hours you will see a number of volunteers working on various projects around the park.

Here is the Pumphouse exterior:

The McLaren Steam Traction Engine

A traction engine is a wheeled  self propelled steam engine, which that can be moved to any location to provide power to remove heavy loads. These might include ploughing the ground, running machinery in saw mills or crushing stone.