It seems like a compulsory part of any visit to Wellington: a trip to our national museum. Te Papa, which translates as ‘The Father’, is an amazing place, and is also home to one of the greatest collections of New Zealand heritage, including John Britten’s infamous Daytona-winning motorbike, replicas of the Treaty of Waitangi, and full-scale models of fascinating animals such as the now-extinct moa. I visited recently during their ‘Whales / Tohora’ exhibition, which was a fascinating look at these magnificent creatures, and well worth a look if you’re in the Wellington region. A large part of Te Papa’s exhibition space is devoted to aspects of the indigenous Maori culture, which forms part of a rich tapestry of cultural insight. But, as always, the question is: how does it measure up in terms of accessibility? Is it wheelchair friendly? All that and more in the next few paragraphs!

Spacious is one word I’d use to describe Te Papa’s exhibition space, with plenty of room to manoeuvre my wheelchair around, and I was never too worried that I’d knock over a piece of priceless national heritage! It’s also very clear to see that accessibility is a key feature of Te Papa’s floorspace, as ramps are the main form of traversing height differences, unlike other places where stairs are featured, and ramps often hidden round some back alleyway. Also, many of the different exhibitions are placed on the same floor, so there weren’t many lift trips required to see all there was to see! Speaking of things to see, archways like the one pictured left (click for a bigger version) make Te Papa a truly awe-inspiring place to be.

The doors, I know, seem like an odd thing to comment on, and to be fair, there weren’t many of them, but boy, they were some of the heaviest I’ve had the displeasure of negotiating! I’ll put it simply and bluntly: had my girlfriend not been there to help me out and hold the doors for me, I wouldn’t have been able to get through them by myself, plain and simple. Maybe the Te Papa design team were friends with those who designed SkyCity Metro, who knows, but seriously, in this day and age, it wouldn’t hurt to put some automatic sliding ones in, would it? Anyway, consider yourselves warned.

Other than that minor gripe, and perhaps that the only accessible toilets I recall seeing were on the ground floor, Te Papa gets a pretty big tick in my book. Blog reader Caren notes the ‘wide passageways and excellent lift’ as accessible highlights for her, and I wholeheartedly concur. Definitely a must-see if you’re travelling down to Wellington. Make sure you check out their website and read up on their current and future exhibitions!