The Paua Shell House

Jandals (flipflops), Pavlova, Busy bees, Big rubber wellies, sheep, and houses with rooms covered in Paua shells. That is Kiwiana and the label of penguin chips. Well, the house isn't on the chips, but it hints at the same sort of nostalgia.

Fred and Myrtle's Paua Palace was a world wonder back in the day and bus loads of people would come and be entertained by Myrtle's kitsch each day. According to the short documentary, she loved the people. Fred and Myrtle themselves became shining examples of "Kiwi ingenuity," and starred in commercials until their deaths in the early 2000s.

The ridiculous number of shells came to be on the wall after an argument between Myrtle and Fred, because Fred kept leaving his stuff everywhere. His stuff being the shells that he polished to sell as ashtrays. Myrtle, who was just trying to keep a clean house, began nailing the shells to the wall, and so began a roadside attraction, and, perhaps, a mental disorder.

Now, after the passing of the paua people, bits and pieces of their actual house were bought and moved into the Canterbury Museum, where one can see a short documentary every 15 minutes and see the actual paua room. I am glad to have partaken in such events, but I don't know how I feel about someone's home--not just the shells, but accompanying kitsch, carpeting, etc, being put on display in a museum. From what the doc portrays, F&M wouldn't have objected at all, and their kids don't seem to be putting up a fight--they were just going to sell the house--but something about it just doesn't set right with me. It was neat though to see a rotary flag from Marshfield, WI--that's practically StePo!!

The comment was made, "Only in New Zealand," but I beg to differ. I could easily see something similar to this happening in the US, hell, even Wisconsin. I've worked in the homes of many eccentric old people while I was doing time for HomeInstead, and I saw many things come close to this level of...enthusiasm. The moral of the story? Don't keep weird crap. Your kids don't want it.