Newstalk ZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast.

This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about.

Okains Bay is a hidden gem nested on the Banks Peninsula opn the West Coast of the South Island. It has a museum that is home to one of the most important collections of Māori taonga, art and carvings.

Okains Bay Museum chair Helen Brown told Tim Dower the unofficial mayor of Okains Bay Murray Thacker was the founder of the museum.

"He was a local farmer who started the museum initially at his own home before purchasing the old dairy factory in Okains Bay... maybe around 1966, and over a period of years converted it into the museum we have today."

The museum officially opened on Waitangi Day in 1977.

Ms Brown says they are most famous for their collection of Māori taonga, which she describes of national significance and rivals collections held by larger museums.