KEY POINTS:
For most small boys the chance to drive a fire engine - even one that was pensioned off long ago - is a dream come true. So, naturally, half-a-dozen miniature firefighters from the Devonport Methodist Child Care Centre are climbing all over this one, turning the steering wheel, making siren noises, fiddling with the equipment on the back and shouting things like 'fire in the hole', 'more water', and 'my turn to drive'.
This fire engine is at Motat - Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology - where I have been assigned on grandfather duty.
I've been to Motat many times since it opened in 1964 but visiting with a 4-year-old boy gives you a different perspective.
For one thing, little boys don't operate at slow speed; they either stop or run. The leisurely stroll past the lines of amazing old cars, tractors, engines and planes, which was how my previous visits operated, was not an option this time. Pause to admire the magnificent winged silver cup, presented to aviator Jean Batten in 1937, and your charge has vanished. "Geoffrey, Geoffrey, where are you?'
For another, small boys judge exhibits - such as the old fire engine - by how good they are to play on and not because of their history.
It so happens this particular machine is a 1933 Bedford, possibly the oldest Bedford in the land, and 70 years ago it was putting out fires in Ellerslie, but that's of no great interest to this crew.
They just want to fiddle with levers and shout, "Man the pumps'. It's a Rees Roturbo pump, but they don't care.
Nor are they interested in shiny vintage cars you aren't allowed to touch; the amazing collection of ancient farm equipment merits only a passing glance; and the new display on women's sport and workwear between 1880 and 1914 is of no interest whatever.
Because I was tracking a grandson, I didn't see what the small girls in the group liked, but, according to the centre supervisor, the highlights were the bus trip from Devonport to Western Springs and the ride on the old tram from the main Motat site to the Sir Keith Park Memorial Airfield.
Geoffrey enjoyed those too, especially the trip on the old tram. And, to be fair, he did pause briefly at a few of the 300,000 items on static display: 'Whoa, rocketship' (sorry, didn't have time to check its details); 'Whoa, racing car' (the one in which the great Bruce McLaren drove to third place in the 1961 Monza Grand Prix); ``Whoa, motorbike. Was your motorbike like that, grandad?' (no, my bikes were in the 125cc-250cc range, and this was a magnificent 1000cc monster); 'Whoa, steam engine' (this was a huge traction engine which the staff started up part-way through our visit); 'Whoa, fighter plane' (a replica of Battle of Britain star the Hawker Hurricane).
But the real favourites for him and his little mates were the exhibits they were allowed to climb on.
The huge old black locomotive, which you could climb into and pretend to drive, was one highlight (sorry, I was distracted again and forgot to check its history).
Another was provided by the 1924 White Motor Company bus, a rare example of our early bus fleet, which once chugged round the North Shore, Waiheke and Rangitoto, but these days allows small boys to take turns driving, collecting tickets and being passengers.
The model railway under the old band rotunda, where the push of a button set a miniature railcar chugging round a replica Raurimu Spiral for three minutes, kept them interested for some time.
The mirror maze, which turned out to be trickier to run through than it looked, and the momentum machine, where you could spin grandfathers and grandsons until they were dizzy, also earned a couple of goes.
Out at the aviation park, the vast shape of the Short Solent flying boat which from 1949 to 1954 flew the Pacific for Tasman Empire Airways - a precursor to Air New Zealand - had all the boys climbing up the steps so they could look into the windows at the figures of crew and passengers enjoying a 7hr 30m flight from Auckland to Sydney.
The flight simulator, though labelled as unsuitable for children, turned out to be hugely popular - indeed, adult intervention was required to persuade some budding pilots to give others a turn - though I suspect more for the chance to have spectacular crashes than to learn to fly.
But the activity which occupied the boys the longest was the chance to fight fires.
Motat has one of the largest fire engine collections in the world; some of them quite rare, but it was the battered machine by the playground - due to be restored by Motat volunteers next year - that they really loved. When you're 4 and full of energy, nothing beats the chance to twiddle the wheel of a real fire engine, shout instructions, and make 'wee aaa, wee aaa' noises.
And it's not just small boys who feel that way. Don't tell anyone, but I wouldn't have minded a go on a real fire engine, but I wasn't allowed. 'It's Sam's turn,' Geoffrey explained, 'because he asked first.'
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Checklist
GETTING THERE
The main Motat site is on Great North Rd, Western Springs, close to the Northwestern Motorway and on a regular bus service. The admission price includes a tram ride to the aviation, rail and military collections at the secondary site on Motions Rd.
ADMISSION
The museum is open every day except Christmas Day, from 10am to 5 pm. There are special programmes for children during the school holidays. Admission is $7 for children and seniors, adults $14, family pass $30.
FURTHER INFORMATION
See www.motat.org.nz or ring (09) 815 5800
