Wanaka National Transport and Toy Museum

One of our more surprising stops during our South Island road trip was the Wanaka National Transport and Toy Museum. We did not research beforehand our destinations and left the itinerary in the capable hands of our friends who have been in the South Island before. The name of the place is as obvious and as unassuming as it can get - it's a place with toys and cars.  What an odd combination, I first thought to myself.  And I wondered what sort of toys would be on display.  Surely not the anime-related stuff that I've been so enamoured with in the not so distant past... those are not so popular here in New Zealand.

Well, it wasn't.  But what I saw with my kids was something way beyond ordinary.  The collection was colossal, to say the least!  And I was very, very impressed. If I could spend an entire day checking out each and every nook and cranny and every single item in that place, I would!

Check out some of the photos (and video) we took from the Museum.

This is the front desk.  It doesn't look much, but boy were we in for a surprise!


LEGO! A toy museum would not be complete without LEGO.


Nintendo Game and Watches -I haven't seen these in a long time. Very popular in the late 70s to 80s in the Philippines. In the mid-2000s a colleague and I searched and high and low for these portable games but never found any. Seeing these again brought back happy memories.



This place is a Star Wars fan's dream come true!  A huge section of the display is mainly Star Wars.








Before this blog post turns Star Wars, let's move on to other items on display...

Looks like I spent so much time on the Star Wars stuff that I could not find photos of the other toys!  So let's segue into this display of old flat irons before we go to the transport side of the museum.



The car collection is HUGE.


There's 2.5 hangars full of cars. And there are more cars out in the sun.


The number of cars they have is STAGGERING.








Check out some more photos from my Flickr account.

You can have a feel of the enormity of the collection through the video we took of the museum.


I highly recommend visiting this museum when you're in the South Island.  You have to be there to appreciate the place.  I cannot believe how tidy and organised they keep the place!