Introducing Fire Chief Bianca

On Sunday Bianca had a wonderful surprise from MOTAT. They arranged for her to have a drive in an old fire engine. Bianca was so excited and she couldn't believe it when they said she could actually make the siren go.

Unfortunately (typical Auckland weather) it was raining, because if it wasn't, we would have gone in a fire engine without a roof. But this one was pretty cool too.

Bianca wore a special fire chief hat (thank you so much Bridget!) and she sat right in the front where the fire chief would usually sit.

Bridget (the events coordinator), Terence and I sat on the little bench where the fire fighters used to sit just behind the fire chief and the driver (John Walker).

This specific fire engine was a 1969 International Fire Truck which was pretty impressive.

I understand that this particular fire truck is able to go up to around 130 km/h, but we didn't go that fast on the motorway - thank goodness! I don't think I could have handled going that fast on a fire truck. Bianca had fun waving at the people going past us and our fire chief (Bianca) will tell you that we didn't see any fires on the way (also a good thing, because it would be a pretty funny sight if Terence and I had to run around trying to kill some fires).

When we got back, Bridget had to get off and we stayed on while they were parking the fire truck (wow, really impressive how they do it). Just as we went past, Bianca made the siren go and she thought it was really funny: "I made Bridget jump".

Bridget mentioned that MOTAT got behind the Child Cancer Foundation before and in particular when they collected wrapped presents for CCF kids instead of an entry fee one day close to Christmas last year. They collected so many gifts which the children then managed to open for Christmas. I think that is so special!

I would like to say a big big thank you in particular to John Walker (Ex-Volunteer Fire Fighter and currently Fire and Emergency Collection Manager), Ian Hambly (Road Transport Collection Manager) and Bridget Johansen (Events Coordinator). Thank you so much for organising this very special day for us. We had so much fun and it really was one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities. Thank you for making Bianca's day special.

Here is Bianca sitting next to John Walker, our driver:

And pictured here with Bridget Johansen (on the left) and Ian Hambly (on the right):

Afterwards Bianca wanted to stay on and look around. She really enjoys visiting MOTAT. Bridget took us to see some of the other fire engines and Bianca enjoyed having a look.

She also loved visiting the mirror maze and she was the leader and took us around. We had loads of fun exploring a section with some displays like an earthquake simulator. We all went in the Voyager 4D simulator for a "trip to the South Island". I got some motion-sickness towards the end, but Bianca and Terence thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Terence and Bianca also had a look at a display of a very old train. There is so much to see and do and if you are in the Auckland area or coming for a visit, this is a great place to come to.

Here are some of the other things we saw:

In September there will be another day (Girl Power - The Heritage of Women) that we will definitely not be missing. So come on, if you are in the area, join us! It looks like it will be loads of fun and Bianca will have a chance to participate! And yes, Terence will also be joining us (of course he is trying to make this my birthday present, but he'll just have to keep coming up with ideas!).