Motat

Then I went to MOTAT, which is a pretty awesome place. It stands for Museum of transport and technology, and there are all sorts of things that have to do with transport and technology and museums inside. Maybe there was something to do with of-s and and-s too. I can't remember. It was a while back.

Here was the sign that let us know we had gone to the right place.

Oooo, look at that cool entrance. So cog-y.

Then there was another sign that said MOTAT on it. This one was much more cog-y. I bet it was to match the cool entrance.

Here is the cool New Zealand bus stop that tells you when the next bus will come. . . we did not actually take a bus there.

It was some kind of bizarre UFO looking thing that keep shaking about.  

Here was some steam punk looking thing

Then there was this place that was decorated to look like an arctic camp. I totally felt like was taken back to my days at the south pole. . . well, I would have if I had ever gone to the south pole. . .I think.

Some kind of tank tractor.

These thing were so fun, until you became self conscious of the fact that you were too old for them.

A Marmite truck. Their answer to our ice cream trucks. . . ugh, that's just disgusting. Damn New Zealanders.

And now for the best part of the museum!

Playing with light!

This one had a laser that could sense changes in elevation and would change direction when it encountered a surface at a higher elevation. The goal was to trap the quick little bugger with one of those circle thingys.

That me trying to get my fat butt around some laser beams. I was not successful.

Then there was this bendy mirror thing.

This was neat. You got to move the prism around so that you only saw the color you wanted.

This was, ummm, something. I forget.

Then I got to use infrared technology to write things on a screen.

Sooooo original.

Holograms never cease to be cool. Except after you have been looking at one for about 10 minutes, then the coolness kinda wears off.

Then I stood in front of the screen that pixelated you. It also gave you a particle effect when you moved.

Then I touched a car.

And it transported me to some kind of cartoon world.

Then the staff found out that I was American, and put me in the stalks. Note to America. No one likes Americans.

But then I daringly escaped and called the embassy on my cell phone, from within a phone booth. Oh yeah, it was sooooo ironic. 

Then I got on this tram thingy and it took me to the other part of the museum. It actually had a conductor who would punch holes in your ticket. So authentic.

There were lots of planes in the other half of the museum.

Like this really really big one.

Or this compact fighter jet thing. It once fired warning shots at a foreign fishing boat trying to fish in New Zealand waters.

Then I learned about Jean Batten. She is like an Amelia Earhart who did not get lost.

Way more pictures on my Picasa