February 8th
Near Greymouth
South Island, New Zealand
On February 7th, we stayed at an Airbnb in Greymouth, a welcome change from camping.
HOKITIKA
When I was a girl in elementary school, I would always look for pretty rocks on the way home, and I'm sure I had quite a collection (which my mother probably disposed of secretly when I wasn't thinking about it because I don't remember ever seeing a such a collection).
And anyway, we are packrats, so now we are collecting pretty rocks!
On our way from Greymouth, we stopped on the beach in Hokitika, which is famous for Greenstone Jade. In Maori, it’s called Pounamu and is considered a treasure for its durability and beauty. It was used for tools and ornaments.
We’d stopped at the beach briefly the night before, so this was our second trip to the Hokitika beach.
My video on the beach, introducing the Greenstone
We spent a little time looking for greenstone jade, after watching some youtube videos on how to find them.
I got soaking wet from the knees down because the waves were a little wild and came in faster than I expected.
Me on the beach. https://youtu.be/utX9SVs9m7k
We collected a bagful of treasures. Not all of them looked like jade, and we weren’t sure any of them really were jade. A few of them I just picked because they were pretty.
My video where I show the rocks I found (mostly quartz). In the end, after consulting a friend, and I'm pretty sure that none of them are Greenstone jade. But still, I'll keep some because they are pretty.
Video link Youtube
https://youtube.com/shorts/xyW0A6LC270?si=5XQC01h_SHZSHGYZ
HEADING FOR CHRISTCHURCH
After the beach, we headed through Arthur’s Pass and on our way to Christchurch. Thus we drove from the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand to the east coast in one day.
ARTHUR’S PASS
In Maori, Arthur’s pass is known as: Ka tiriti o te Moana. (which means “steep peak of glistening white”)
We walked around in Arthur’s Pass Village, which had a lot of signposts telling about how the town was settled and various buildings in it.
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| Near Arthur’s Pass |
Stopped for a picnic lunch, sandwiches around 1 pm.
OTIRA STAGECOACH HOTEL
Or as I call it: "The Gollum Hotel".
At some point, after lunch, as we were driving along, I could swear I'd just seen a giant Gollum on the roof of a hotel we'd passed. I had Khevron stop and we turned around and went back for a second look and sure enough--it was a giant Gollum!
We'd found the Otira Stagecoach Hotel, which was this really wacky old hotel with all sorts of interesting and unique things--it could have been a museum.
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| Driftwood Horse |
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| Gandalf and a driftwood dragon |
Really old cars!
1524 Other odd bits.
Tin Man
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| Tin Man on his bike? |
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| Killer Jurassic Rhino, possibly possessed? |
Stagecoaches
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| The Tin Man and his beer wagon? |
The dinning room
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| In the restaurant, a dining table, and lots of books ... |
Lots of stuffed animals. Including the creepy little rats that were sitting in chairs Why? And one important question came to my mind—why does that possum have a rifle?
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| Why does that Possum have a Rifle. |
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| Rats relaxing in Rocking Chairs. |
Really not sure what to do with some of this.
The fireplace was cozy.
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| An actual fire in the fireplace. |
And they have an ogre for a bar tender? Nice.
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| The Ogre bartender |
More taxidermy.
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| Natural selection... |
And a giant collection of old farm equipment.
And you thought we were pack rats!
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| Lareena at "Gollum Hotel" |
That wraps up our visit to the Gollum Hotel. We didn't actually stay there, just passed it on our way to Arthur's Pass & Castle Hill.
Link:
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| On the way to Arthur's Pass |
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