Toitū & Immersing Oneself in the Past

Photo Journal time again! This time it’s Toitū, Otago Settlers Museum. Toitū was reopened last December, and has been a local success since.

Inside the entrance of Toitū

With various displays, ranging from Maori explorers and first settlers, to what the future of this little city could be it’s quite the experience. It also features the latest in interactive museum exhibit technology, with touchscreen interactive displays located throughout the museum.

First Great City interactive display

There is also a research centre where anyone can research Toitū’s collections on Dunedin and it’s inhabitants. There is even a small section on Creative Cities!

Creative Dunedin – The story of Dunedin’s literary past

All in all a fun place to go for an hour, or an afternoon, however much time you have! It can be a learning experience if you want it to be, or it can simply be a good place to immerse yourself in the city’s past.

The photo journal can be found here on the blogs imgur site

I Missed The 24 Hour Book Sale!

This past weekend (well, Friday through Saturday) was the annual Regent 24 Hour book sale. This year marked the 33rd consecutive year the event has been held, with profits going towards the Otago Theatre Trust who run the Regent Theatre.

Sadly, due to one part forgetfulness, and one part other commitments I was unable to attend the event. However, a few of my friends were able to make it down, and I know that even around 11pm the Regent was still pretty busy. There was even live music, which was meant to be on for the duration of the sale.

With a huge range of books, from gardening to science fiction, there really was a book for everyone; and over half of them were available for just $1. It reminds me somewhat of the car boot sales I grew up with in England, except those were always outside (and it was England so it rained 9 times out of 10), and there was definitely no musical accompaniment either, unless you included the various attempts at haggling going on all around.

I was also unaware that the event is the biggest sale of secondhand books in the Southern Hemisphere! Quite impressive really, that Dunedin holds an event of that scale. Only in Dunedin would we hold a 24 hour book sale in a theatre! Makes you wonder what else we could have quietly going on down here.

The Regent Theatres description of the event can be found here. The claim about being the biggest sale of secondhand books in the Southern Hemisphere can be found here.