A quick dash through Toitu

This week we're back in Toitu,

 otherwise known locally as The Early Settlers Museum.

We are doing a quick dash through today as there is so much

 to see and do I thought I'd just give you a taste.

Josephine

Josephine is the very first thing you come across

 as you enter the foyer.

She is loved by old and young alike, if you mention seeing Josephine at the museum we all know what you're talking about.

If you go to the link on her name you can read about her.

And I do apologize for cutting her nose off when photographing her. Once again there is a great photo in the link.

Turn to the right and you have a little gift shop 

with lots of cool stuff in it and on the sunny side of 

the foyer is the cafe/tearooms

 where you can get a nice meal or hot drink. 

Or a cold drink if that's what you prefer.

Maori kite made from flax

Through the door to the museum 

and you have a short history of Otago 

from pre-European times through to the current day.

A little further on and we enter the passenger section of a sailing ship, complete with creaking and groaning boards as

 the ship moves up and down across the waves. A weird sensation. 

Around about are the passengers bunks, goods and utensils. 

There is a section devoted to fashion, men's and women's, 

as well as a few children's pieces. Again a great range of clothes.

And a dress up section if you wanted to don a whale bone petticoat

 and see how you would look in a crinoline.

Another display houses the appliances, gas, coal and electric. 

It doesn't seem that long ago that these

 old coal ranges were in homes.

My grandparents had a gas stove top but the oven was coal fired, 

and it sent out a lot of heat in the winter,

 and probably too much in the summer.

It was a wetback and heated the hot water

 so had to be on most of the time.

(Now I'm definitely showing my age,

 that was nearly 70 years ago, haha).

Everything from these ranges to old irons and 

more modern milk bar equipment and everything in between. 

We laughed at the old typewriters, computers and dishwashers etc.

How life has changed :)

Now this fellow was atop a butcher shop in the city 

when I arrived here in the late '60s.

He was in charge of a herd of little pink pigs

 who ran around the veranda, also neon lights.

 They were quite a landmark.

In the Smith Gallery there are paintings of some of the settlers.

 Also an index so you can find your ancestors

 somewhere in the crowd.

Or maybe they are hidden away somewhere in the archives.

My GKB's ancestors arrived on one of the first boats 

and I've recently discovered that my father's were on one of the early ships as well.

At the opposite end of the museum to Josephine 

is this display of feet.

A modern sculpture on temporary display,

 commemorating the men who went to war and didn't come back. 

I find it quite strange even though I 'get' what 

the artist was trying to say. I think. 

I should have put this photo in the post I did 

about the transport on display here.

This is the arrival and departure platform at the bus depot.

Exactly as it was when we used to catch the buses 

after a night out on the town or day out shopping.

It is midway through the museum and a nice place 

if you want a bit of a sit down

and there is also a corner for the littlies to play in.

And that is it for another day. 

I hope you enjoyed having a quick poke around Toitu with me.

linking up with Stepanie at:

roses of inspiration

Have a good week.

See you next time,

Diana