Tawhiti Museum, Hawera

A beautiful museum with a collection that details both the daily life of citizens of taranaki in the past and the overarching events that occurred. The figurines are beautifully crafted and illustrate historical events far better than simple words can. The staff are very friendly too and even pulled a book off the exhibit for me to see due to my interest! What a wonderful place!

Hawera has one of the best Museums I've ever been to. Nigel has really put his spirit into it. Has put Hawera on the map for sure. Would love to work here.

It's a great way to get absorbed in the local history. Miniatures by the thousands and hours upon hours of amazing things to see. Historical reconstructions of places, battles, and everyday scenes. Machinery from the last hundred and thirty odd years. A wonderful boat ride through an indoor man made river. It's really quite amazing.

After reading good reviews, I took my teenagers here wondering if they would be bored and moan about it, but no, they were totally enthralled and really enjoyed the experience. The models are great, and have such real charm and I loved the information. Not like a stuffy museum at all. Its a private made museum, and somehow you can feel the love. Really really good !!!!

Fantastic, spent a good couple of hours looking around (didn't do the train ride or traders extras). Was informative, interactive, and very interesting. So glad it was open when we were passing through on our way home from traveling the forgotten highway and viewing the light festival at Pukekura park in New Plymouth. Loved it :)