This is the main street of the Taranaki Pioneer village. We called in there last week and ambled around taking photographs and being, for the most part, exceedingly grateful that society has improved a great deal since then!The brochure reads - " Over the past 30 years volunteers have developed the 10 acre property into a replica village to celebrate Taranaki's pioneers. Most of the buildings are open for viewing, others are being developed and are not yet ready for public display."
We found that most of the buildings have been donated by local folk - and relocated from their original places in the area to this property where they have been painstakingly put back together. The buildings are all 'real' and haven't been dreamt up for the project.
We were very taken with the little church at the village - it can be hired even now for weddings. There is a sign on the door leading into the church which asks that you keep the door closed to keep out the birds!
The barber shop and hairdresser - we particularly liked the dart board on the wall. Is that for the clients waiting for their turn in the chair, or could you hit a triple twenty and get a discount?Hi-fidelity sound systems in pioneer times - for those who weren't up to the hassle of organising the ivory for a keyboard - after all, there are very few elephants ambling around New Zealand with price tags on their tusks. 
Some things like pianos have changed very little in the intervening years - we wonder where the ivory for these keyboards came from and whether all the necessary permits were acquired.
For those of us who dread a visit to the dentist and find the whine of the drill calcifies our vertebrae, we can be exceedingly grateful that we no longer have to endure drilling by a dentist using this foot-powered drill! In my opinion, my teeth could have fallen out of my head before I could comfortably sit through a session here!
We took this picture especially for Claire who is working in Paediatrics in Vancouver - things have no doubt changed dramatically since pioneer times! The golliwog in the cot was somewhat of a surprise since the New Zealanders are over-the-top about being politically correct and golliwogs have recently been in the news as 'not on'.
This picture appears to be the classroom for more senior students - the World Map shows New Zealand slap bang in the middle, so there are two Africa Continents - one on either side!
This pioneer classroom looks a bit disorganised but one must assume that some good education went on there - the map on the wall with two Africas is a little disconcerting though!
Some things like pianos have changed very little in the intervening years - we wonder where the ivory for these keyboards came from and whether all the necessary permits were acquired.
For those of us who dread a visit to the dentist and find the whine of the drill calcifies our vertebrae, we can be exceedingly grateful that we no longer have to endure drilling by a dentist using this foot-powered drill! In my opinion, my teeth could have fallen out of my head before I could comfortably sit through a session here!
We took this picture especially for Claire who is working in Paediatrics in Vancouver - things have no doubt changed dramatically since pioneer times! The golliwog in the cot was somewhat of a surprise since the New Zealanders are over-the-top about being politically correct and golliwogs have recently been in the news as 'not on'.
This picture appears to be the classroom for more senior students - the World Map shows New Zealand slap bang in the middle, so there are two Africa Continents - one on either side!
This pioneer classroom looks a bit disorganised but one must assume that some good education went on there - the map on the wall with two Africas is a little disconcerting though!We took these two pictures especially for Barbara and Jo-anne - the dock in the Courthouse and the legal statute books which were haphazardly slung on the counter of the police station!
One wonders how good the justice system of the day was!
Apparently, there are some Bothas who remember a telephone, remarkably similar to this one, on the farm outside Rosendal!
This garage looks a little understocked for the major repairs and tune-ups that would be done today but obviously, at the time, did a good enough job to justify it's existence. There was nobody around to ask if there were any vacancies for a mechanic Boeta!
There is a railway 'garage' along the railway tracks - one assumes that trains could be housed there overnight as the need arose!
These stocks are positioned neatly beside the pioneer cop shop - an easy transfer to the cells!
The Tariki Railway Station had a Station Master at one time who was also a Justice of the Peace and so consequently, there were at least two wedding ceremonies performed here!
One wonders how good the justice system of the day was!A wooden bathtub! Since the kiwis seem to be able to fashion wood into just about anything, it shouldn't really have come as such a surprise.
I wonder how many trips to the kitchen stove it took to fill this tub with hot water!
I wonder how many trips to the kitchen stove it took to fill this tub with hot water!
Apparently, there are some Bothas who remember a telephone, remarkably similar to this one, on the farm outside Rosendal!
This garage looks a little understocked for the major repairs and tune-ups that would be done today but obviously, at the time, did a good enough job to justify it's existence. There was nobody around to ask if there were any vacancies for a mechanic Boeta!
There is a railway 'garage' along the railway tracks - one assumes that trains could be housed there overnight as the need arose!
These stocks are positioned neatly beside the pioneer cop shop - an easy transfer to the cells!
The Tariki Railway Station had a Station Master at one time who was also a Justice of the Peace and so consequently, there were at least two wedding ceremonies performed here!
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