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We've compiled the best of the best in North Island's West Coast - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
This museum offers a superb overview of the region's history and one of the country's best collections of Māori artifacts. It contains taonga (Māori ancestral treasures) of the river people as well as Te Pataka Whakaahua (the Lindauer Gallery), featuring 19th-century paintings of Māori leaders by respected artist Gottfried Lindauer. The museum offers guided tours for an extra charge if you want to gain more insight into the exhibits.
The coal-fired paddle steamer, Waimarie, is one of the original riverboats that operated here and the last operating in the southern hemisphere. Sunk in 1954, it was salvaged from the river bed and restored in the 1990s. From September to early June you can enjoy a historic, two-hour cruise, just like the old days. The Riverboat Centre displays photographs and related artifacts from the era when riverboats thrived here. Opening hours are variable at this volunteer operation; summer weekends are your best bet.
This isn't a boring old museum but rather an outstanding presentation of Taranaki’s lively history. It’s the creation of former schoolteacher-cum-historian Nigel Ogle, who has created life-size fiberglass figures and set them into historic scenes: dioramas depict the huge intertribal wars of the 1830s and European–Māori land wars of the 1860s, for example. More than 800 model warriors, none of them the same, have been created. In "Traders and Whalers," you glide by lantern light on a boat through an eerie world of traders and whalers and witness their first encounters with Māori tribes. Outside, Tawhiti Bush Railway highlights historical logging operations in Taranaki (runs the first Sunday of each month). Mr. Badger's Café, with its Wind in the Willows theme, and a quaint gift shop, can bring you back to the present. To reach the museum, in southern Taranaki, head south on State Highway 3 for 30 km (18 miles). It's a fascinating stop, but well off the beaten path.
