Pay a visit to this free maritime museum to learn more about the role of the sea in the development and shaping of contemporary Wellington.
With countless items of maritime memorabilia, holographic shows and interactive displays, the Museum of Wellington City and Sea offers a fascinating look at how the sea has helped to shape the New Zealand capital and its people.Housed in The Bond Store, a 19th-century cargo storage house, the museum is spread across three large floors. The ground floor covers Wellington in the 20th century, and the first floor deals with the maritime history of the city, while the theme of the top floor is Wellington's early years.The best place to start your tour of the museum is in The Bond Store exhibit, which recreates the original environs of the warehouse visually and through authentic sounds and smells. Wander amidst wooden barrels, burlap sacks and virtual rats onto the next gallery, which will be your first encounter with the tall screen which rises across all three floors and plays looped films on the subject of Wellington.Up on the first floor, you can learn about Wellington's maritime heritage. Make yourself at home in the captain's cabin, or let the kids play the part in the Jack's Boathouse interactive exhibit. Before you move on, take a look at the film documenting the Wahine marine disaster in 1968, the Wahine sank in Wellington Harbour, with a loss of 53 lives.Right up on the top floor is the video installation A Millennium Ago. This holographic show runs for 12 minutes and relays Māori creation legends.The Museum of Wellington City and Sea is a 2-minute walk from the cable car at Lambton Quay on the waterfront. There's paid parking located under Queens Wharf and along the street. Entry to the museum is free, and it is open every day except Christmas Day.
