Transport Museums in New Zealand

Although New Zealand doesn't hold a long history, we have seen many technological and transportation changes during our time! Follow our transportation history by visiting transport museums in New Zealand, and learn about some remarkable New Zealand contributions to travel. There certainly are a great number of Kiwi's who have made significant impacts on world wide travel.

You will find a selection of delightful transport museums in New Zealand spread throughout major cities and small rural towns. These New Zealand transport museums tell stories of how people's lives have been changed by transport achievements and disasters through time. You will find that most of the transport museums in New Zealand, especially smaller rural museums, will tend to have a focus on local history.

New Zealand's abundance of coastal area means there are many ports scattered around the country. Many of these ports are still in working condition, however water transport is not often used within New Zealand now except for crossing the Cook Straight (the water way between the North and South Islands). The Wahine disaster (April 10, 1968) marks a significant piece of transport history in New Zealand. 51 people lost their lives due to this tragic event. Of course, shipping is still used in the transportation of products to and from New Zealand.

Railway connects the ports around the country. Originally this was a popular form of transport in New Zealand, but these days a lot of the lines are used solely for transportation of products between ports. At present, train travel isn't as popular, although there are a few spectacular scenic rail journeys in operation.

New Zealand had a strong influence in the initiation of air transportation. Now we have five international airports and many more runways and landing pads throughout the country.

Land transport in New Zealand has seen huge changes recently. Today, most Kiwi's rely quite heavily on cars for transportation. Tram transport and trolley buses have also made an appearance in the past, and can even been seen around the country still in working condition.

Click here to view tourism operators for transport museums in New Zealand.