NZ and AUS, day 9, in which aviators are pretty

A lot of travel anymore is about airplanes, but today it was about them in a different way.  We visited the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) https://www.motat.nz/

Here is Brent just outside:

 

What we hadn’t counted on was that the Pasifika Festival https://www.aucklandnz.com/pasifika

was going on in the same area.  I was theoretically interested in the festival, but in practice even the edges of it were overstimulating and there were way too many people.  The festival had taken over some of the MOTAT, but not the airplane exhibit.  This was good because the airplanes are Brent’s favorite part.

 

I am always a fan of nose art, so here’s one I liked:

 

This is a WW2-era “computer” to help bombers.  Language changes in interesting ways.

 

I learned about Jean Batten, who was the record-holder for fastest NZ to Great Britain flight in the early-ish days of flying.  She seems to have been a remarkable woman, but it bugged me that the narrative kept emphasizing how pretty she was.  Brent pointed out that a great many on the accounts of Charles Lindbergh (spiffy pilot, bad human) got caught up in how tall he was, so maybe I’m seeing sexism where it isn’t.  I bought a picture book about Batten’s exploits in the gift shop.  Here is her (pretty?) picture:

 

This is the propeller on the climbable airplane for kids.  I like the pattern it makes:

 

Once we were done with the airplanes, we made our way to the other areas of MOTAT.  We had our first substandard meal of the trip at their café.  I ate less than half of my toastie because it was just Not Good.  Instead, I ate a very good doughnut with custard and apricots because that counts as a healthy lunch on vacation.

 

We took a look at the model train area, but both of us had had enough of crowds and noise.  We chose nap time over chaos.  Pretty soon we’re off for swanky dinner.