Goodbye to our glacier view at Franz Josef, glowing in the early morning sunlight – a sight we’ll never forget.
Lake Mapourika.
Black swans on Lake Mapourika.
Jetty, Lake Ianthe.
Pat on jetty, Lake Ianthe.
Pat still on jetty, Lake Ianthe.
Lake Ianthe, without jetty or Pat.
Hokitika is a town on the west coast of NZ. Following the discovery of jade deposits nearby, Hokitika has become a centre for arts and crafts.
A large deposit of jade was discovered in the mountains near Hokitika in country so rugged it can only be accessed by helicopter. Each summer, workers go to the jade deposits with diamond sawing equipment to break up the jade boulders and bring the jade to factories in the town, to be processed into jewellery and other articles. This slab of jade, on display in a jade showroom, is about a metre high. It is part of a 2.5 tonne boulder of jade found just north of Milford sound.
This display shows how paua shell is uncovered.
This gold nugget is worth $17,000 by weight, but would be worth much more as such a pure, one-piece nugget. The young sales assistant was happy to unlock the case and let us hold it, to feel the weight.
We also visited a glass blowing workshop, where the glass was so beautiful I will describe it in a separate blog.
For lunch at Hokitika, I had a whitebait fritter sandwich, a specialty of the west coast. Delicious.
These red flowers appeared in large groups from time to time, making a vivid splash of colour beside the road.
Near Greymouth, the road started looking like Victoria’s Great Ocean Road again.
It was yet another very scenic drive.
Finally, after a lot of twisting and turning, we reached our isolated destination, the grandly named Punakaiki Resort, nestled at the foot of a cliff right on the stony beach – 180 degree water views!
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