Otago Settlers Museum- Last day in Dunedin

Thursday February 28 was mainly cloudy and cool with a high of 14C.  It is our last full day in Dunedin.

We headed down to Vogel Street, in the cool Warehouse Precinct, to have lunch at Vogel Street Kitchen.  We first checked out Good Good, which has a large sitting area and a small trailer serving mainly burgers and fries.  Neat space.

Good Good space

Next door was Otago Chocolate Company (OCHO)-- "Grown in the Pacific, made in Dunedin".  Bean-to-bar craft chocolate.  We stopped at their small retail shop.  They also do tours at their nearby factory.

Sign outside store

Inside store

We bought a few bars-- one has Manuka honey and the other was called 'Short Black' and has coffee as an ingredient.

I agree

Just down the street was Vogel Street Kitchen.  Alain and I shared a delicious wood-fired roast chicken sandwich.

Inside at Vogel Street Kitchen

Sandwich and pizza menu

Order at the bar

After lunch, we headed to Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.  It is New Zealand's oldest history museum and was established in 1898.  It was originally only concerned with the Māori that lived in New Zealand; the settlers that arrived in 1848; and those who came with the first of Otago's gold rushes in 1861.  It later enlarged its scope to include later arrivals.

The Museum is very large and it combines a very modern building; an older building and an adjoining Art Deco building that was constructed as a depot and garage for the New Zealand Railways Department in 1939.  It was acquired by the Museum in 1991.  The new addition to the Museum opened in 2012 along with its present name.

Newest addition to the  museum- entrance

Attached Art Deco section

The Museum brands itself as the "most modern and innovative museum of social history."  We think that is a fair assessment.  It is set out chronologically, from the first Kāi Tahu explorers right up to modern times.  The Museum traces the development of the city of Dunedin and the province of Otago.  It had a number of interactive displays and it was well laid out.  There was a Māori welcome  message as we entered the exhibits.

Sea going craft- made for museum in 2014

Though whales were hunted almost to extinction, their numbers began to rebuild in Otago after the shore whaling of the 1830s ended.  In 1869, several Māori families started the Waikouaiti Whale Fishery Company to take advantage of this recovery.  The operation lasted only a few years.  Maori Girl was one of several boats operated by the company.

Whaleboat Māori Girl, made in 1872, donated to the Museum in 1932.

Close quarters weapons

Manu Tukutuku are bird-like kites made predominantly from NZ flax woven into a frame made of vine-- this one was made by Ewan and Jennifer Duff and Toitū visitors, Waitangi weekend 2015

We then went into room that is the historic heart of the Museum.  When it opened in March 1908, the Museum consisted of just this room for display and an attached hall for social gathering.  Within a decade the portrait display covered every wall surface, from floor to ceiling.   The room has images of the early settlers from the mid 19th century, which coincided with the development of photography.

Alain with the early settlers

The Museum detailed the arrival of the first migrant ships in 1848.  The settlers were members of the Free Church of Scotland, a breakaway group from their parent Presbyterian Church.  They wanted a "New Edinburgh" on the other side of the world.

Women in costumes taking pics of each other

There was an alcove where one could put on costumes from earlier days.  These guys were goofing around.

Trying on the costumes

Checking out the clothes section

Memorial to those who died in WWI from Dunedin

There were a few rooms with old cars and streetcars.

Alain and an old Dunedin trolley

There was also a special exhibit for the 125th anniversary of Suffrage in New Zealand called Suffrage  & Beyond.

Beautiful banner with five panels done to mark the 1993 centenary, made by members of the Otago Embroiderers' Guild.  It features five women important in the local suffrage story.  A sixth banner was added in 2018.

There were a few rooms with artefacts from more modern times.  Dunedin has positioned itself as a Creative City--- lots of great ideas.

Creative City strategy

We really enjoyed our visit to the Museum.   It is really a shame that Toronto does not have a history museum.

We walked around a bit more admiring the wonderful buildings near the waterfront.

This building was an old post office and had a restaurant called "Parcels" in it.

We ended up going to an early dinner at Vault 21, an Asian fusion restaurant on the Octagon.  We shared Pāua fritters  (edible sea snails) served with seaweed salad and coriander aioli and wok fried Satay beef rice noodle, and rice with crispy shallots and spring onions.

Pāua fritters

Wok beef and rice

We then went back to the apartment to pack.  On Friday March 1, we head to Queenstown.  We really enjoyed our visit to Dunedin.  So different from Christchurch and Kaikoura.  Most of the streets are named after streets from Edinburgh and it is definitely a university town.  Our host, Pip, was most gracious, letting us cook in her kitchen, eat in her dining room and picking us up  at the bus station.  She will take us to the bus station on March 1.  The weather is supposed to warm up this weekend.