The NZ Maritime Museum is conveniently situated near the ferry terminal in Auckland. We were able to leave our suitcases in lockers, till it was time to leave for the airport later in the afternoon.
An excellent museum, filling in some missing pieces for us of the jigsaw of NZ life and history that we hadn’t got from other museums. NZ’s history over the last 750 years owes so much to the sea and those brave enough to travel great distances. it starts with the first settlers, Māori, and their various forms of waka. Also on display are canoes and twin-hulled vessels from other Pacific island travellers. Then you come on to the story of the discovery, charting and settling of the island by Europeans, telling first of Tasman and his failed expedition (but he gave us the name New Zealand), the French explorer, Jean Francois Marie de Surville, whose crew all fell ill and died; and then the successful story of James Cook, who turns out to be a great guy, looking after his crew and appreciating Māori culture and values. You see life in the port of Auckland in the 19th century. You learn the story of European immigration especially from the UK, from the 1840s onwards. You can experience something of life in steerage in a deck that moves and creaks realistically, then compare with a 1950s 3rd class cabin from a later wave of immigration. Cook benefitted from the invention by John Harrison of H4, a chronometer that successfully solved the “Longitude Problem”. This story is told in an interesting section on navigation. If yachting is your thing, there’s a whole big gallery devoted to it, including NZ’s 1995 Americas Cup winner. There are smaller displays about whaling, baches and more. A most enjoyable and worthwhile visit. PS; don’t miss the “Americas Cup” created from beach plastic.











