Wonderland: The Mystery of the Orchid

Auckland Museum is taking two of the world’s best loved flowers – the orchid and the rose – and exploding their magical attractions into a two-part wonderland of storytelling and sensory experience.

Nestled in the Museum’s Special Exhibitions Hall, the first chapter of this family-friendly exhibit explores the story of the mysterious orchid, a flower that has ignited mankind’s imagination throughout the ages.

Found in the world’s most elusive locations, orchids have evolved into some the most striking and devious flowers on the planet. Using deception and intrigue, they charm insects to do their bidding, and create ‘orchid hunters’ out of otherwise sensible humans, who risk life and limb to track new species to every corner of the earth. Little wonder they’re described as nature’s tricksters.

Enter Wonderland and you’ll discover the Museum Garden, a magical world of orchid-related objects from the Museum’s rich collections. From there, open doorways into the fascinating science and spellbinding stories of this most mysterious flower family.

Wonderland: The Mystery of the Orchid is an experience best described by Lewis Carroll’s Alice: "Curiouser and curiouser!” And the exhibition is free for children. Don’t miss it.