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Visitors to Whitianga should visit Mercury Bay Regional Museum this holiday season.The museum is having a $3 million redevelopment staggered over several years, so even if you have visited the museum before, make sure you don't miss taking another look.

The Coromandel Natural History Display was opened in 2004. It was designed to improve the public awareness of the unique aspects of the natural history of the Coromandel Peninsula. The show features commentary as visitors take a walk through Cathedral Cove and the bush to see the native birds, animals and preditors that inhabit the region. The highlight is a giant 2.8 metre moa.

Many international visitors come to see the remnants from the wreck of the British convict ship, HMS Buffalo. The ship sank off what is now Buffalo Beach in 1840.

There is of course an extensive display of Captain James Cook's historic visit to the bay to witness the transit of Mercury across the face of the sun. Did you know that Cook, Banks and other members of the ship's company visited the Wharetaewa Pa by invitation? This is the first recorded visit by Europeans to a New Zealand pa (or settlement).

The regions once booming industry of kauri logging and gum digging is represented, with many artifacts and lifelike displays. The main milling period was 1862 to 1922. The magnificient kauri forest once dominated the Coromandel landscape, but sadly after nearly two centuries of exploitation, only a handful of mature trees survive today as lonely individuals.

More modern aspects of the Coromandel's history include an agricultral and diary display.

The Mercury Bay Museum is open 10am to 4pm daily (except Christmas Day).

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