With the town of Blenheim surrounded by hectares and hectares of vineyards, you wouldn’t assume there was anything more to New Zealand’s largest wine-making region. But, amongst all the food and wine lies a collection for a different type of enthusiast: the aircraft enthusiast. And that was just the second wrong assumption we made today…

We park up at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, just a 5-10 minute drive out of Blenheim town centre, in front of some huge hangers. Inside those hangers, we sort of picture rows and rows of unimaginative displays of vintage aircraft. As soon as we walk into reception, we are all like: “Hang on a minute…”

This is not what we were expecting!

People and hustling and bustling between the counter, cafe and gift shop right underneath a suspended WW1 Russian plane with a mannequin inside throwing a grappling hook across the room. The still scene is so action-packed and so detailed, it becomes pretty obvious that this is going to be far from your dusty old museum.

Like a scene straight out of a Peter Jackson Movie

Tickets purchased, map in hand, we enter into a dimly-lit room with spotlights on a couple of scenes. We say “scenes” because this hanger is displays the World War 1 planes in static scenes of real moments in history. It’s not just about the planes; it’s about the people who used them. What’s more, the mannequins have look unnervingly realistic! Stare at them long enough and you expect them to turn their head and stare at you back. One of the guides on the floor of the museum, there and ready to ask questions to, tells us that the mannequins have been made by Weta, the same movie-making team behind the make-up, costume and special effects in The Lord of the Rings. Speaking of Middle-earth, most of this collection is owned by Sir Peter Jackson, New Zealand’s most famous movie director. Along with his production company, Wingnut Films, and heaps of volunteers, they have created WW1 flight scenes that look like they’re straight from the movies.