Day 20 - MOTAT

---

After yesterday’s lazy schedule, I decided to tackle another of Auckland’s big museums today. The Museum of Transport and Technology.

To be honest, there’s not a lot to write today. The museum is huge and covers two locations in the west of Auckland that are linked by an old working tram line. Pretty much everything linked to transport is here, plus some (but not all) technology. The kind of fire engines I remember from childhood were here, as were trolley busses and a good collection of trams. The army had a working display of their modes of land transport and of course there was a preserved steam railway in the grounds too (note the special station name in the photo). There was even mechanical ticket machine from London Transport busses that I remember from my days working in London. What impressed me the most was the aircraft hangers. One contained WW2 aircraft including a Lancaster designed for use in S.E. Asia, and the other had two of the Solent passenger seaplanes first used for the rich and famous who wanted to travel between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands between 1949 and 1960.

It wasn’t all old museum pieces though. One of the guides was walking around on flexi-stilts. He had to wear a helmet as he had difficulty slowing down if he ever got into anything faster than a stroll. As far as he was concerned, these stilts were far more energy efficient, and the day would come when we’d all walk around on them (once we’d got the braking techniques sorted out).

Now there’s something to look forward to.

---

Photos

My childhood dream
to drive a red fire engine

Dream 2
A trolley bus seemed to run on fresh air

Impersonating Tiger
We might all have a bounce in our stride in the future

My very own station
well, maybe more a wayside halt

I see no ships
flying before the invention of 'do not lean oout of the window' stickers