Saturday, December 2nd – Full Day #3 – The Jade Capital of New Zealand
Waking up and not wanting to leave, we decided to maximize our time in the wonderland called Barrytown and our AirBnB “the Motukiekie Beach Apartment”. Our check out time was 10:00am and we took full advantage of not having to get up and go. After a good night’s rest we slowly rolled out of bed, opened our laptops and enjoyed the cool breeze and sounds of crashing waves of the Tasman Sea. It felt magical listening to nature’s music of the songbirds. The thriving gardens surrounding our AirBnB left much for the eyes to take in. Our senses were satisfied. We found bliss. It was just the two of us – and the world. So thankful.
At this point there wasn’t much opportunity to walk on the beach due to the breaking waters and high tide. The Green Lipped Mussel-filled, sandy paradise that was once our little slice of heaven was now submerged with water. It was amazing how much land was swallowed up by the tide. At this point we realized how lucky we were – grateful that we changed our plans and hurried to the beach to experience the low tide the day before.
Once it was time to leave, we packed up the car, washed dishes (Adam managed to break a wine glass in the dish cleaning, guess he’s too used to using a dishwasher…oops), left our thank you note (and apology letter with $$ to cover the broken glass), and made our way south.
This day we would travel just a short distance to Hokitika, about 1.5 hours. The drive hugged the coast most of the way. This made for a nice, scenic drive.
^The drive from Barrytown to Hokitika.
^We’re in the country!
Our destination was our AirBnB “Cosy Fantail Cottage” in Hokitika, NZ. Hokitika is known for its Greenstone (Jade). We read that, if lucky, it could be found in the rocks that wash up on the beach. There were also many jade shops scattered in the downtown area where jade could be purchased.
^Fantail Cottage – Hokitika, West Coast, NZ
As we pulled into town we realized this stop was going to be quite different than our previous stops along the way. We were in a small town that looked like the merger of Panama City, FL and Milton, FL… (we’ll just leave it at that if you catch our drift) We were a little early for our 3pm check-in, so we hit the “downtown” to meander the jade shops and get a feel for the community. The first few shops we went to were your typical “high class” jewelry shops with fancy displays, pin lighting, and well-dressed sales people. Here, we learned a lot about Greenstone and the differences of the NZ stone compared with that found in other countries.
^Different types of greenstone.
^Greenstone symbolism.
At this point we realized that Angela maybe got a little too much sun yesterday (yes, we brought sunscreen but it was in the lost luggage that didn’t show up until last night, so…). In our quest to stay out of the sun and check out the local shops we stumbled upon a great, LOCAL stone shop called Bonz ‘n Stonz just on the outskirts of downtown that displayed a handful of local artists and didn’t put too much effort on the storefront. Angela felt like this was the place to do business. Now, it is said that it is bad luck to buy jade (Greenstone) for your self. So, Adam bought an amazing necklace for Angela – he couldn’t have picked a better piece, not even if Angela herself had picked it out! 😉 This piece of Ponamu (Maori name for the local greenstone) is cut in a greenstone koru shape –a fluid circular shape or swirly you might say – symbolizing new life, growth, strength, and peace. It looks absolutely stunning on Angela (aw, thanks babe).
^First picture of Angela with her Ponamu.
After some shopping it was time to eat. In our quest to find and decide on a good local place we stumbled on what looked to be the spot to eat. We made our order, grabbed a beer and took our seats outside the storefront under an umbrella for shade.
The inside had just filled up with a group of what looked like a German motorcycle touring club. As we were waiting on our meal Adam was looking down on his phone when Angela was like… did you see that? Of course Adam didn’t see it but it became the excitement of the of the bar. It was a PIG. Yes, a PIG! After taking in the sights (and sounds!), what we think happened was that sometime earlier in the day a pig jumped out of the back of a truck and was wandering the local stores. After getting kicked our of the jewelry shop next to us, the pig ran into the restaurant. I guess it caused a good laugh inside and we’re assuming it ran straight through the kitchen and out the back because we never saw it again. A few minutes later a guy in a flannel shirt came looking for the pig. We’re not sure what happened but – just saying – a random piglet running into the restaurant made our lunch pretty exciting. This was about exciting as Hokitika would get. Actually, we were so UNDER-mesmerized that I don’t think we even pulled out the camera.
After lunch, we were still a little early so we went to find a pub….go Team AA! Here we finally found a place that actually had bar stools (here they don’t have seats at the bar…it’s designed so that you go up to the bar to get a drink and then go back to your table); this is not something in which we are accustomed. But we managed to have a pint of local brew and stay out of the sun. Once the pint was done it was time to check in.
We were at a cute little house in a neighborhood that what looked to be a standard neighbor -“hood”. Fully equipped with your questionable sidewalk-walkers as well as your crying, parentless kid across the street. It was a far different scene than in Barrytown. At this point, Angela was exhausted and needed some aloe vera for her back. By the way, the reason the sun is so powerful and damaging here is because there is a hole in the ozone layer – ultimately there is no ozone so it’s very dangerous. This burn seemed more painful than your typical Florida burn but maybe it was just the imagination. It didn’t really visually APPEAR to be so bad.
So, Adam was off to the grocery store for some aloe gel… and maybe a 12 pack of local brew – hahaha, yesss. After navigating the roads all on his own, he managed to make it to the store and back with no major accidents. Once back, we got the first slathering of aloe on and we hit the front porch for some beers and WiFi. It was time to take a moment and relax.
Now that the sun wasn’t at its peak and Angela had a little relief for her back, we hit the beach to try our luck in finding Ponamu. Angela quickly became lost in the rocks – she was on a mission. Adam, he now an idea what he was looking for after his mini-education sessions at the jade shops – so he began to aimlessly wander the beach and pick up a stone here and there (but mostly just wandering). After about an hour or so of hunting and sanding down rocks with our piece of sandpaper, we finally decided on a rock to take with us. (could be jade, might be something else – but this was our piece).
^Well-known symbol of Hokitika, on the beach. (not my photo!)
We headed back into town for a sunset beer and then dinner at a local sports bar. Again, no seats at the bar but we found a high top table with a REAL dartboard. Of course we had to play a few games while eating our dinner (nothing to give much detail here – it was just your typical bar food – so sad).
Now that the games were done, and the food was gone (and maybe a few empty pint glasses) it was time to head back. As the night was setting in we remembered that there was a “glow worm dell” about 3 blocks from our AirBnB. Even though we ready to call it a night, we couldn’t miss our first chance to see the famous “glowworms.” After about a 10-minute walk in which we hoped was safe, we found ourselves taking a small path to witness the glowworms. It was pretty cool (we’ll get into more details later when we hit the “impressive” caves but it was a nice intro to the worms.
At this point we were exhausted and it was time for bed.
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