Pot The Earnslaw Dragon turns 21
Pot the Dragon will have no trouble lighting the candles on his cake when he celebrates his 21st birthday this summer.
Children all over the world know the story of the loveable dragon who saves the day be relighting the boiler room fire on the historic steamship TSS Earnslaw after it is put out by a big wave.
Pot, was originally dreamt up by author Brian High’s then 3 year old daughter Kelly after a trip on the historic steamship. The ever popular book which is now loved by a new generation of children first appeared in 1988.
Since then over 10,000 copies have been snapped up and the friendly dragon has been delighting passengers of all ages with his daily appearances on the Real Journeys vessel over the Christmas holidays.
Mr High of Timaru said during the trip on the Earnslaw, Kelley spent the entire time in the engine room fascinated by the stokers.
“At bedtime that night instead of me telling her a story as usual, she told me a story about the fire going out and being relit by a dragon – it was the bones of the book, The Earnslaw Dragon,” Mr High said.
“For her 4th birthday I did the illustrations of the book for her and drafted out the story.”
Real Journeys Queenstown General Manager Tracey Maclaren said Pot comes out of hiding in the boiler room every summer to play with visitors on the 97 year old TSS Earnslaw.
“This year he is really excited about making an appearance on the 10am and 12 noon cruises between December 26 and January 8 and celebrating his birthday with all his friends.”
For more information Contact
Tracey Maclaren
Real Journeys General Manager – Queenstown
03 442 5963
