Something for the Ladies

Looking through Transport World  museum packed full of cars and trucks was only mildly interesting to me, so I was delighted to discover other exhibits aimed at the female customers who accompany their husbands.  Such as a range of “Wearable Art” upstairs.  Here are some which took my fancy.  First was “The Phoenix” by Claire Maley-Shaw, and is made from fabric, feathers, sequins, beads, and interestingly, pipe lagging!  A little “over the top” for my taste, but certainly an eye catching outfit.

The Phoenix

And in keeping with the transport theme, I thought these next two certainly fitted that theme.  On the right is “Are we there Yet?” – and how many times have the kids said that on a road trip?  Made by Patricia Munro from a recycled mattress topper, polystyrene wrap, felt, buttons and various other bits and bobs.  And the pale two piece creation “Journeys” was made by the HWR Richardson Group staff using copper wire and thousands of Road User Charge labels and Vehicle Relicensing labels.

“Are we there Yet?”  and “Journeys”

I was really interested in all the lovely exhibits in the Vintage Vault, some rather old fashioned and homely, and some absolutely exquisite.  For those of you who collect old doilies, how about making a doily dress like this?  Don’t like the hat, but the dress is certainly interesting.

Dress made from dollies

Beautiful old clothing and embroidery

Vintage Singer sewing machine and washing machine

Rag rug with a difference – made from strips of woolen blankets

Even the bathrooms in the museum were themed.  Robin told me the male toilets were decorated with car memorabilia, while the ladies I went in to was much more feminine.  It was fitted with pretty pastel hand basins and had a selection of hand mirrors on the wall, just like Granny would have displayed on her dressing table.

Ladies bathroom

Robin and I met up in the café for lunch, once he could tear himself away from looking at cars, trucks and tractors.  As expected, the café had a motorized theme too, the table numbers were made from old number plates, as were the light shades.  And who would have known that there was once a thriving canned rabbit industry?  During the late 1880s and throughout the 1900s, rabbits rampaged through the country.  Bluff had a canning factory for their meat which was shipped overseas and there were also rabbit processing plants at Woodlands and Gore. Rabbit fur was also shipped back to England to be made into felt hats.

My pretty lunch in the Café – Cauliflower Soup with Beetroot Crispy Curls on top

A visit to Bill Richardson’s Transport in Invercargill was a big “must do” for Robin and he really enjoyed his day.  And I certainly enjoyed mine too, checking out some of the old vintage cars, but I gave the tractors a miss.  But there was plenty for me to see, so I was perfectly content too.