CELEBRATING VERMINWhat We Learned At Opossum World
BY ROYCE AKERS
You pass a lot of creepy tourist attractions driving between New Zealand cities. You see depressing hedge mazes, places called “Make Your Own Knives Here,” a million things made of corrugated iron, and many pits of boiling sulphurous mud. Most of them you let go by like seafood extender on a sushi train, but sometimes a quirky name, a funny sign, and cute subject matter makes a place so curious that it’s almost impossible to drive by. Welcome to Opossum World. Population: about a thousand dead possums.
Located in Napier, the Art Deco capital of the country, Opossum World straddles that fine line between touristy museum, souvenir shop, and upmarket possum fur boutique. It’s dark, kind of musty, and full of weird displays and dusty glass cabinets. It also contains what must equate to the entire possum population of the Exhibition Gardens, stuffed and posed in strange dioramas.
All in all it took about eight minutes for this dingy death pit to creep us out but we did learn a few things. Like that possum fur is super soft and super warm, especially when blended with merino wool. We also found out that possums are responsible for the destruction of broad swathes of wilderness every year (tsk, tsk). Lastly, we learned that most possums have TB, which is why you shouldn’t eat them, however tempting it may be.
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Sep 7, 2009 wrote:
look into a "museum" on the west coast of the south island, state highway 6, called the bushmans center. I veritable fit of laughter which involves dead and alive possums, a grossly unhealthy kunikuni pig and a musty smell to rival that drifting from the owner, bushmans pete’s, short shorts | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2009 wrote:
haha | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2009 wrote:
New Zealand tried selling opossum meat to the Japanese for a while, but they called them "apple eating tree bears", strangely they failed... | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2009 wrote:
mm taxidermy possum giving birth. yum | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2009 wrote:
opossums give blowjobs? good to know | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2009 wrote:
is there a difference between opossums a possums? is that a dumb question? hm | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2009 wrote:
so this is located in New Zealand? thats surprising. I was thinking West Virginia or something | | Anonymous, on Sep 1, 2009 wrote:
this is insanely fun in a weird way. | | |
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