By Dan Satherley
Hey parents – the thought of another two weeks of school holidays might be terrifying, but now the Auckland Museum is offering a fun, educational way to scare your kids straight: dinosaurs in the flesh.
Well, not quite – but it's close enough.
The museum has teamed up with Australian company Erth to bring their acclaimed Dinosaur Petting Zoo show to New Zealand. From today until January 29, three times a day audiences will be taken back to a time when dragonflies were as large as dogs and the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex stalked the lands.
"Young boys think they're brave and won't be scared," Aussie host Michael Cullen told 3 News, "but as soon as the T-rex comes out, they're all, 'aaaarargghhhh!'"
The scares come courtesy of some scarily frighteningly realistic puppetry. Erth's T-rex is $60,000 worth of engineering, a 40kg robotic suit the wearer controls with brake cables and navigates via an onboard computer screen.
"We make it as accurate as we can know it to be," says Mr Cullen, whose background is in performing arts and environmental education.
"We have to be careful sometimes," says Aucklander Lucy Edmonds, an Erth veteran of seven years. "Sometimes we do shows where the entire audience is kids under four years old. If it gets too scary, they leave in droves!"
It's not all frights and fearsome fiends though – it's billed as a 'petting zoo' after all. Ms Edmonds and third member of the team, Kiwi Jonny Hair, start the show controlling a pair of baby dryosaur puppets no child can resist.
Getting kids up on the stage is all part of the show, and their unpredictable nature means each and every performance is "organic" and unique, says Mr Cullen.
And also very loud – the museum's auditorium seats 220 people, and when Mr Cullen asks the crowd to give their best dinosaur roar, you could be forgiven for thinking the puppets had come to life. It's more high-pitched squeal than T-rex growl, but a huge stamp of approval for a show that's fast selling out.
So get in quick – Dinosaur Petting Zoo starts today, and goes the way of the dinosaurs at the end of the month.
3 News
All photos by Dan Satherley, unless otherwise noted