Few places on earth defy description more than the Wanaka National Transport & Toy Museum. There’s no image that can capture it. It’s a mammoth collection of bikes, cars, dolls, chain saws, planes, … you name it. I’m told it is the LARGEST personal collection in the southern hemisphere. There are 4 buildings housing over 700 vehicles,13 Aircraft, >50,000 toys and thousands of other miscellaneous items.
I would have missed the museum were it not for this yellow, double-ended Ford-Mazda sitting in front of the museum. I jammed on the breaks, backed up, and found hours of entertainment.
Because there are SO many items on display, everything is just packed together. A huge number of these cars are actually just stuffed with toys, because there is no where else to put them.
The museum is so packed, that even unique items just get thrown in with everything else. This car was used for closeups of Sir Anthony Hopkins in “The World’s Fastest Indian”, which was filmed in New Zealand. The hood is even autographed by him. The vehicle to the right of it is the same vehicle (without tow hooks) that was used for more driving scenes in the movie.
There are bizarre inventions like this unique single wheel motorcycle (which is sitting right by a large powered tricycle that carries wheelchairs).
Outside the museum are a staggering number of vehicles that defy description. There’s a mobile kids airplane ride, which I imagine was used at carnivals. There are numerous rusting commercial vehicles, with plants growing through them. And, of course a Mig-21.
But, just in case you’re worried, they are starting a MASSIVE expansion of the complex to house even more items (and presumably to space things out a bit).
