Spend an hour or two in one of NZ’s better natural history museums. Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārange Māori exhibits include an amazing waka (canoe), fire-hardened here (bird spears) and some vicious-looking mere (greenstone clubs). Colonial and wildlife installations are upstairs, including plenty of fossils and skeletons. Don't miss the amazing old photos of Māori life along the Whanganui River in the early 1900s.