This huge hangar-like museum looks like a 1960s university but houses one of Australasia’s largest collections of antique and unusual cars. Check out the DeLorean, the German-built 1897 Lux and the 1950 gangster Cadillac, complete with bullet holes. Look for the signs off the expressway.
Southward Car Museum
North Island
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
29.58 MILES
New Zealand might be a young country but it has one of the oldest continuously functioning parliaments in the world and has chalked up more than its share…
2.82 MILES
Waikanae's main visitor lure, Ngā Manu is a 15-hectare bird sanctuary dotted with picnic areas, bushwalks, aviaries and a nocturnal house with kiwi, owls…
6.61 MILES
One of the last relatively unchanged areas of dunes and wetlands along the Kāpiti Coast, this undulating 650-hectare park offers swimming, walking,…
29.81 MILES
Lost beneath a canopy of oak and pohutukawa, between freeway off-ramps and apartment towers, this fabulously dank and atmospheric remnant dates back to…
29.48 MILES
The only botanic gardens in NZ specialising in native flora, Otari features more than 1200 plant species including an extant section of native bush…
29.4 MILES
Designed by Rev Fred Thatcher, the first vicar of Wellington, this wonderfully woody former Anglican cathedral (1866) is well worth a look. Despite its…
25.9 MILES
On the site of an old coach stop, complete with original stables and well-worn cobbled courtyard, this endearing museum features transplanted period…
29.65 MILES
Across the road from Parliament, this grand Italianate structure (1876) is the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, although it does a…
Nearby North Island attractions
1.88 MILES
Paraparaumu's oddest claim to fame is surely this 14m-high statue of the Madonna, looming over the town from a 75m-high hill. It was commissioned by the…
2. Hemi Matenga Memorial Park Scenic Reserve
2.81 MILES
This 330-hectare reserve overlooking Waikanae contains a large remnant of native kohekohe forest. The reserve rises steeply from 150m to its highest point…
2.82 MILES
Waikanae's main visitor lure, Ngā Manu is a 15-hectare bird sanctuary dotted with picnic areas, bushwalks, aviaries and a nocturnal house with kiwi, owls…
5.78 MILES
A glimpse into historic Wellington by way of restored wooden trams and museum displays housed in a large garage. Take a 2km tram ride through Queen…
6.61 MILES
One of the last relatively unchanged areas of dunes and wetlands along the Kāpiti Coast, this undulating 650-hectare park offers swimming, walking,…
22.88 MILES
A beacon of culture and delight, the excellent Dowse is worth visiting for its jaunty architecture alone. It’s a family-friendly, accessible art museum…
23.43 MILES
The turn-off to the main eastern entrance of the huge Tararua Forest Park is just south of Masterton on SH2; follow Norfolk Rd about 15km to the gates…
24.41 MILES
Built for the centenary of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1940, this gorgeous little art-deco building on the shell-strewn Petone foreshore contains a fun and…