Only eight days to go ...

Charlotte, Linley and I have just been labouring over THREE extra specially awesome Ruru scavenger hunts for our extra specially awesome staff ... it's only eight days until the 'Night at the Museum' event (Thursday 4 October at 6pm), so register a team with Janie NOW!

Prove to us you have the brains to figure out our cryptic clues.  It's yet to be decided if brawn will be required as well ... 

There will, of course, be snacks and drinks ... oh, and a garden ornament that requires a new home.

Come on ... show us what you're made of!

Ruru goes nocturnal with a staff 'Night at the Museum' party!

WAY back before Ruru became Ruru, a handful of people helped create Puke Ariki's very first interactive scavenger hunt.  Those of you who were there will remember a crush at the Little fakes, receiving clues via text message and moulding butter-coloured Playdoh into the shape of beloved Heritage Collection objects.  You'll spot a likeness of Ferdie below:

However, you'll be forgiven if you don't recognise Kelvin's object as a percussion drill bit!

Well, the chance to participate in such hilarity is here again!  Ruru has been invited by Puke Ariki's Social Angels to devise a scavenger hunt to beat all scavenger hunts, created especially for our next Puke Ariki staff event on Thursday 4 October.  Of course, Ruru began its days as a staff initiative, so here's your chance to renew your passion for Ruru, show us what you're made of and win a much-coveted prize.

Oh no, they're not going to make me give away my jumbo owl eraser, are they??

NO!  It's Niall that's up for grabs! (I always thought his name was Niles ... but on closer inspection of the photo below, his tag explains his name is Niall, which means 'champion' ... who knew??)

So get a team together, register with the Social Angels (Karen or Janie) and show off your scavenger hunting prowess.  In the meantime, your dedicated Ruru team will endeavour to make you the most AMAZING scavenger hunt imaginable ... possibly involving fishing, acting, texting, making and more!

* Disclaimer:  all bribes will be considered, particularly if they involve coffee, chocolate or trips to Tahiti!



An artistic young owl

Since December 2011, our Ruru trail ... for curious young owls has introduced more than 450 keen little explorers to awesome objects like fuzzy kiwis, a hefty anchor stone, a cheeky duck and Glen Skipper's amazing ceremonial doors ... and, of course, they collect a well deserved Ruru sticker at the end!

But every now and again we have an extra specially curious - or in this case artistic - young owl who catches our attention.  Last week, Mikaere had the pleasure of providing additional paper to Zoē Clough, a very creative 8 year old.  She put the paper to good use by making a range of colourful rubbings from Glen's bronze castings ... check out a couple below.  Great job Zoē! 

Ruru is delighted our trail is helping young people get excited about exploring the museum and is helping talented kids like Zoē unleash their creativity.  We hope to see you at Puke Ariki again soon Zoē! 

SEVEN HUNDRED!

How many??

Seven hundred!  Seven hundred!  SEVEN HUNDRED!   S E V E N   H U N D R E D !!!

Over the school holidays, 700 scavenger hunts were done by Puke Ariki visitors.  Phwoar, that's AMAZING!  Obviously our Ruru fans were amping to get their hands on the new hunts ... and the new badges of course!  Though our awesome personalised labels took a bit of a battering, lots of kids said how the Ruru trails made them look at Puke Ariki's amazing heritage objects in a whole new way.  Great to hear!

Thank you to Natalie and Charlotte for their fabulous clue writing efforts, and to the Visitor Hosts for facilitating, smiling and badge making on Ruru's behalf.  Geez, your biceps must be positively bulging after pumping out that many badges!

Since the voracious demand for our scavenger hunts continues, we plan on writing another one or two in the coming months.  What colour will the next ones be??

Stay tuned!

A Ruru party like no other ...

Wow, look at that Ruru cake!  This amazing creation - a collaborative effort between Natalie, who made the cake, and Mikaere's partner Sophia, who did the incredible decoration - served as the centrepiece for Sunday's Ruru 'private viewing' party.  If you recall (which we're sure you do!), after April's Ruru Revolution event the team selected 25 awesome labels written by 25 awesome people to turn into long term labels.  Sunday was about celebrating the efforts of the label writers with certificates, new scavenger hunts, home baking and, of course, THAT CAKE!  In addition to Natalie and Sophia, Linley and Charlotte also whipped up some delicious treats.  Look at that spread ... thanks bakers!



And strangely enough, the Moffat children were VERY keen to help me get underway with cutting the cake!

Then the feeding frenzy ensued ...

... and in a matter of minutes, this was all that was left!

It was an incredibly successful event for the label writers and their families.  There was coffee drinking, cupcake eating, certificate presenting, congratulations abounding ... and some scavenger hunting!  All with our delightful Ruru Revolutionaries that we're getting to know so well.  We can't wait to see them at our next event (whenever that might be!).  Until then, here's some photos of our amazing label writers ...

Felix Ashworth with a remarkable array of badges ... note all the Ruru ones!

Tarashar, Oceania, Baillie (a label writer extraordinaire) and Serrin finished ALL THREE new hunts!

The Ashworth family takes a pit stop as they read their next clue ...

WATCH OUT!  The Ashworth girls hide from Meg the shark

Elena Honnor with Ruru Ruth (as she calls me) ... thanks for the card Elena!

Revolutionaries in various states of scavenger hunting activity

Jessica, Jemma and Haylee with big smiles and plenty of Ruru badges between them

Tayne looking ace in his Ruru tee

The new labels are up!

Bye bye old labels ... (don't panic, there are still 27 staff labels left around the buildings)

... HELLO new labels!  Hold on a second ... is that Meg about to eat Charlotte?  Did those jandals not hit the spot Meg??

Despite evidence of some standing around (only kidding Danny!), we managed to get all 25 new Ruru labels up in the three long term galleries, assisted by Danny and his trusty spirit level.

They look awesome (and very straight).  Thanks Danny and Charlotte!  Check 'em out when you have a chance ... there's 11 new labels in Taranaki Life, 10 in Taranaki Naturally and 4 in Takapou Whariki.  Most are written by kids (and then there's Polly ... but we all know she's just a big kid anyway!) and they're AMAZING!

And now it's only just over a week until our celebration for the label writers.  The new scavenger hunts are coming along nicely, Mikaere has designed a super cool certificate to present to the label writers, and plans for copious amounts of home baking are underway.  It's sure to be an afternoon of sugar-induced hyperactivity and general happiness!

The brand spanking new scavenger hunts will be ready for you and everyone you know to try on Monday 2 July, so spread the word!  Let's face it ... you haven't lived unless you've been there, done that and collected the (Ruru) badge!

New scavenger hunts and ratty little things ...

Are they going on a bear hunt?  Are they looking for the toilet?  Are they having an existential crisis about their purpose in life??  NO!  Natalie and Charlotte have started the arduous process of writing some new Ruru I Digress ... scavenger hunts!  The job involved some close examination of various objects.  We determined that the Miss Brooklands gown would look lovely on Natalie ... if only Andrew would let us play dress ups!

We wrote clues about all manner of unusual things ... I mean, seriously, what IS that??  Is it a flying mouse?  A vampire suspended in some sort of cryogenic liquid?

NO!  It's a "ratty little thing" that features in a poem by Harry Devine, whose label is soon to be on display in Taranaki Naturally: 

Three new I Digress ... scavenger hunts will showcase the 25 brand spanking new Ruru labels written by our Revolutionaries back in April.  The hunts will be ready for consumption in the first week of July.  Ruru will also be hosting a special 'private viewing' for the 25 label writers to celebrate their labels being selected for display.  There is rumour of certificates, home baking AND a Ruru cake ... we can only hope it will turn out as well as this!

So, the Ruru Revolution continues ... VIVA LA REVOLUTION!