Tourist House Souvenirs

LARGE souvenir shop on Queen Street.

Tacky? Yes. Postcards? Yes. Boomerangs? Yes. T-shirts, magnets, stuffed kangaroos and koalas? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Obligatory UGG boots? Of course. Plus dozens and dozens of other items you never knew you needed or wanted.

Staff was friendly.

Location was convenient.

I went shopping with a friend from overseas. We stopped by Tourist House to have a look. As I wandered around while my friend tried UGG boots on, I noticed they sold Golliwogs (aka golly dolls, golly), the dark skinned doll, with clown-like red lips and frizzy black hair. There was a collection of them sitting in a woven basket by the entrance. It is rare to find places that sell this type of doll these days and I thought it looked a little out of place in this souvenir shop. Or was it?

Despite this odd encounter with a doll popular in the 60's, we found the store useful and my friend successfully purchased a whole heap of things. One of which, includes her beloved UGG Australia boots which she praises for being half the price here, compared to overseas.

An insightful souvenir shopping trip.

This is one of the more spacious souvenir stores in the city, and it probably stocks the greatest range of goods. It definitely has a quantity of range, but I hear you ask, how's the quality?

Well, the answer is "varied".

The highlight are the Ugg boots and authentically their quality authentically-made Indigenous didgeridoos and other Aboriginal art.

And them there is a sea of cheap tat made in China, with special deals for buying things like 10 t-shirts or postcards. You know the ones with scantily clad girld sitting on the sand with a clever caption like "Beach Bums".

Good one maaaaate!