museum

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Last Beetle off the Uitenhage line

The last South African-made Volkswagen Beetle came off the production line on 18 January 1979 and went straight into the Volkswagen museum which later became the VW AutoPavilion.  The metallic bronze Beetle was the last of 288 353 built at Uitenhage plant 1951.  The car only had 200km on the clock when a vehicle carrier overturned on the way back from a show in Cape Town in 2006, destroying nine of the AutoPavilion's most important historic cars, including this one.  It was decided though to…

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20/04/2015
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AutoPavilion Geocache

One of my favorite geocaches done lately was one located inside the VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage.  The coordinates take you to the museum itself from where you have to follow the instructions in the cache description.  These tell you to look for the blue racing car and to get in to find the cache.  I'm giving this one away a bit, but the container is muggle proof so doing so isn't the end of the world.  The cache container turned out…

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18/04/2015
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AutoPavilion garage

The VW AutoPavilion in Uitenhage doesn't just have some awesome exhibits inside the facility, there are also a couple of outside exhibits.  One of them being this replica roadhouse and garage.

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15/04/2015
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The VW AutoPavilion – a world class attraction

A quick trip out to Uitenhage to fetch my drivers license had me pop into the VW AutoPavilion briefly and even though I was in and out quickly I just realised again how much of a world class attraction it is.  We really are very fortunate to have it right on our doorstep but I often wonder how much more popular it would have been if it was in Port Elizabeth and able to attract more visitors.  Locals tend to be a bit…

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14/04/2015
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Bayworld’s Marine Hall Whale Skeleton

The Port Elizabeth Museum, which forms part of the Bayworld complex, has a very unique exhibit hanging in the Marine Hall.  It's the skeleton of the last Southern Right Whale to be harpooned in Algoa Bay and is the focus piece of a exhibit that covers whales and sharks (amongst others) along with everything associated with them.

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24/02/2015
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The Drostdy Museum fascade

The Cape Dutch style Drostdy building in Uitenhage was completed in 1809 during the time that General Jacob Glen Cuyler was the Landdrost of Uitenhage.  The building houses the town's Africana museum following the historical development of Uitenhage and the surrounding districts.  The museum contains various exhibits which include historical artifacts from the town, toys, porcelain, clothing and an archive library.

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28/01/2015
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Musicians at South End Museum

I went for a stroll through the South End Museum a week or two ago and realized just again how under utilized and appreciated places like this is with general folk out there.  It's at times like this that I wonder how many of those who often complain that there is nothing to do and nowhere to go in Port Elizabeth have actually been here.  One of the display rooms in the museum is dedicated to music and musicians from the…

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12/11/2014
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The South End Museum

 South End, as a suburb, was once a cosmopolitan community. Men, women, children and families lived harmonious lives in the epicentre of cultural diversity.  Blacks, whites, coloureds, Indians, Chinese, Jews, Greeks and many more were united in their attitude towards family values, faith and morals, despite the diversity of religion, language and race.  This all changed with the Group Areas Act coming into being in the 1950's.  South End was classified as a "whites only area" and everybody of colour…

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03/11/2014
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Prince of Wales Obelisk

I often wonder how many people have noticed the stone obelisk outside Bayworld in Humewood.  The obelisk is called The Prince of Wales Obelisk and was brought to South Africa by the founder of the Eastern Province Herald, John Paterson.  It was meant to be placed on the grave of his partner, George Kemp but the Kemp family thought it to be slightly too much and donated it to the city.  The City decided to erect it in front of City Hall…

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09/09/2014