Carla Roberts (15) and Amy McAulay (14) are from Tauranga, a city with no museum and a council that recently voted not to build one - which is why the two teenagers were in Dunedin yesterday, a city blessed with top-notch museums and more culture that you can poke a stick at.
"Awesome" was their response after visiting Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and the Otago Museum.
They later visited Animation Research Ltd (ARL).
The pair won a trip south after winning an essay competition on why Tauranga should have a museum. The competition was run by Taonga Tauranga, a group established to build support for a museum.
Despite their skill in arguing their case, their efforts were in vain.
At the end of last month, the Tauranga City Council voted down a proposal for a $55million museum project.
Those opposing argued many members of the public liked the idea of a museum, but did not want one with a price tag of $55million, even if the council's contribution was capped at $15million.
ARL's Ian Taylor said Taonga Tauranga flew him to the city last year to discuss the importance of museums and how to get the city behind a development like the proposed Dunedin waterfront. He was vexed at taunts about Tauranga surpassing Dunedin's population to become New Zealand's fifth-largest city.
That was a perfect opportunity to tell them "there's more to a city than being big".
Mr Taylor was hosting the pair yesterday, along with Taonga Tauranga committee member Lee-Ann Taylor.
She believed a museum was necessary in Tauranga for its youth and was "so inspired" by what she saw in Dunedin, Ms Taylor said.
"We want to tell our people's stories. No-one's telling our stories."
Ms Taylor said the fight for a museum was "definitely" not over. Her group planned to unite with other cultural organisations to continue to lobby for one to be built.
