Oh, that all small-town museums could be this good! The riveting Riverton museum starts with a 16-minute film about Pākehā sealer Jack Price and his Māori wife Hinewhitia who were stranded on the Solander Islands, far south of Fiordland. Legends behind the landscape are entertainingly told, as are anecdotes about characters including cabbage-tree rum distillers, heroic castaways and the first recorded Pākehā (white European) Māori, James Caddell.
Inside you will also find the Riverton Visitor Information Centre, which can assist with maps, accommodation and heritage-trail brochures, as well as the Discovery Depot, where kids can examine local geology through a microscope.