Museums

It is school holiday time at the moment and the kids are off for two weeks. On Tuesday Georgia had her good friend Evan with her and we all went into town for sushi and coffee and cakes as a kind of pre-birthday treat for her, Now it was pretty cold with a strong wind which reached gale force about lunchtime, this made for an uncomfortable walk around. Now NZ is big on things to do outside but when the weather is bad it is quite hard to amuse yourself if you want a day out. In the UK we would have found a museum or Stately Home or such like but round here they are few and far between. We do have a working historic village, where buildings have been collected from around the area and it is nicely done, but will not keep you amused for long. There is an art gallery that is nearly complete and a museum is planned which is causing much debate about where to put it and what to put in it. We did however try out a small aircraft museum located on the fringe of the airport and I have to say it was really rather good. It is run by restoration enthusiasts and has static and working aircraft. You could sit in the cockpit of a Korean war Sabre jet fighter or a Hawker Hunter, take the controls in a restored 1953 Dehavilland airliner or fly a Huey. There was a Spitfire, jeep, field gun, motorbikes and bi-planes. The kids loved it and it was well worth its entrance fee.

Tauranga is changing all the time, new roads are being built which no one complains about, but when it comes to things of a cultural nature there is a hardened element that sees it all as a waste of money. One letter writer to the local paper suggested that if it was costing so much money to store the local artifacts that were being planned to be displayed, then a large bonfire would be in order and then the rate payers would not be lumbered with the cost. Unfortunately he is not alone in that opinion. I am of the opinion that art and history are of great interest and I would rather have the opportunity to enjoy displays of both and if the trade off was less spending on the roading, then so be it.