Recently Mrs K repeatedly advised/told/warned me that we needed some family time and that I must, not only make time for this, but also plan the destination. So I packed Mrs K and Wee Knob into the chariot and headed north to visit the Packard and Pioneer up at Maungatapere. I’d stumbled across this on a previous road trip while doing a drive by from Dargaville across to Whangarei, and almost missed it. A quick search on the InterWeb and lo, all I needed to know was at my fingertips.
This isn’t a traditional “wander about aimlessly at your own leisure” Museum, you get a guided tour , which takes about 2 hrs. Ive got to say this was a great way to see the Museum. We were lucky enough to tag onto a tour that had just started ( 2 people) and our tour guide was Fenton Craw, whose late father started the whole collection. Fenton was an amazing source of knowledge about pretty much every item of the museum, right down to the donation of 125 vintage? Veteran? Classic potato mashers :-). I wont wax lyrical about the museum history here, you can find that on their website and by visiting them.
My interest in the visit was primarily to see the motorcycle collection, and I was not disappointed. Its an impressive collection of Veteran, Vintage and Classic. There’s also a nod to some NZ history with the inclusion of a Mountain Goat motorcycle. I could have stayed in the Motorcycle room longer, but guided we were onto other parts of the wider collection ( armory, cars, trucks, bulldozers, tractors, steam engines…….. Its quite a collection) . The tour ended up in the Packard Room ( hence the Museum name) and again these vehicles did not disappoint.
I have some photos of the tour, but the quality is poor due to the use of a Mobile phone.
The rest of the photos, whilst interesting, are of a substandard quality.
My advice would be to arrange a visit and take home some memories of your own. It was well worthwhile, even Mrs K and Wee K had an enjoyable time, with the young shaver falling for an old International School Bus. Its good to know that old vehicles can still have an effect on the young.
So look them up, plan a trip and help support this museum by visiting and taking a tour.
Knobster