The Whangarei Museum offers a delightful variety of Maori artifacts and natural history, as well as early settler and wartime displays.

The Kiwi House turns day into night with a fully nocturnal set-up that allows visitors to observe native animals in an environment built to reflect their natural habitats. It is home to a kiwi, tuatara, and several species of camouflaging geckos.

Victorian and Edwardian-era buildings have been preserved for present-day exploration, with the oldest structure dating back to circa 1859. Set out almost as a mini town, there is a home estate, church, schoolhouse, women's jailhouse, and the now-detached turret in which author Jane Mander (1877-1949) would write in her family home.

All are set together on farmland with a view of the city of Whangarei below.