It is the memories their collection evokes in visitors that appeals to a pair of Balclutha toy collectors. Hamish MacLean catches up with a couple with a lot of dolls on their hands.
A three-foot tall porcelain Elvis and about 800 Barbies adorn the walls in the two front rooms of the Collis home on Clyde St in Balclutha.
They are joined by toy trains, trucks, cars, troll dolls, various Mickey Mouses, multiple Winnie the Pooh bears, umpteen Cabbage Patch Kids, numerous Tinkerbells and myriad prized porcelain dolls.
But it is the visitors that give Ross and Chrystle Collis' collection of thousands of dolls and teddy bears at their specialty museum, Dollyworld, life, the couple says.
The couple opened their home to the public about seven months ago, after moving from Owaka, where they had a smaller toy museum.
They lived in Greymouth for 20 years before that.
The couple met in Australia.
Mr Collis, on a working holiday, was flatting upstairs from Mrs Collis when she was working as a nurse.
She used to pound on his door at night to get him to turn his music down so she could sleep.
Years later, when she was visiting Mr Collis' hometown of Nelson, Mrs Collis was sent by her friend on a blind date.
It turned out to be Mr Collis, and they hit it off.
''Two days later we got married and we just travelled.
''Sometimes people do spur of the moment things and it was a spur of the moment thing.''
The couple toured both the North and South Islands of New Zealand in a ''great big bus'' and ended up parked up on a beach near Greymouth, where they stayed for two months before buying a house.
That is where Dollyworld was born, helping out neighbours by fixing broken dolls as a favour.
She then began fixing up dolls, dressing them up, and selling them at markets.
From there, the eclectic collection was born and now the strange, at times sad, faces of Gloobee dolls peer out at visitors to the specialty museum from a shelf in the teddy bear room - ''they really are ugly, but people like them,'' Mrs Collis said.
Crystals, hand-made jewellery, dreamcatchers and other crafts complement the doll collection.
Since opening in Balclutha the couple have had up to 30 visitors in a day but some days get no takers.
Some of those who took an interest in Dollyworld, would on first glance appear the least likely. And some who came had the least likely reactions to the place, she said.
The ''Irish Eddie Murphy'', a Bollywood couple, and an experimental musician have all walked through the doors at Dollyworld, Mrs Collis says, and she has fond stories of each.
''We've had some strange-looking creatures that have come through here with punk hair and whatever.
''It's funny, we've had women coming in here, [playing with the dolls] sitting on the floor like children and arguing ... ''
As a child in Sydney, Mrs Collis grew up a tomboy who hated dolls.
''I hated them, that's the stupid thing about it,'' she said.
She lost her childhood doll in a river when she was about six years old, and it upset her so, that was the last doll she had as a child.
Now she and her husband scour garage scales, op shops and trading websites for dolls and doll parts.
They recreate dolls out of parts and they accept donated dolls, broken or whole.
They have sold the occasional doll.
One visitor made an offer for two Gloobee dolls and bought them off the wall.
A Japanese visitor bought for his wife a plush cat that purred.
While the couple say they know there is value in it, they aim only to have a robust collection.
They have built up their collection bit-by-bit over about 20 years, aided by one large-scale purchase of several hundred Barbies at a market in Greymouth.
Mrs Collis purchased her prized porcelain Elvis online from an American woman for $7.
She would like to grow her Barbie collection to 1000 dolls.
While the couple say they know there is value in it, they aim only to have a robust collection.
It is not a profit-driven enterprise either. Entry to Dollyworld is by donation and often comes with a cup of tea.
''It's a hobby, so we just share it with people,'' Mrs Collis said.
Not just for the kids
What: Toy Museum in Balclutha.
Where: 146 Clyde St.
When: Open 9am-5pm, seven days.
Cost: Gold coin donation.
