Hokitika

All 8 motorhomes/caravans gathered at the pre-agreed meeting place in Hokitika ready for us to enter the grounds of the high school where we had paid for parking. The tickets had a printed entry time of 2pm but when we all rocked on up there, we were told it was a mistake and entry was at 4pm, so our procession moved away and parked up down the road for another couple of hours. Most of us went fossicking on the beach to try our luck at finding a piece of greenstone. None of us really knew what we were looking for,  despite having read an article on the internet beforehand (complete with pictures), but we all came away with samples we knew had to be real thing. Once we were finally settled on the school grounds we all got to work with our wet and dry sandpaper to try and take off the top layer to reveal the green magic layer underneath.

This is what we were doing when the mayor stopped by to say hello, and video recorded an interview with us while all the time we were sanding away!.

We took our treasures to a Pounamu Gallery a couple of days later only to be told they were “serpentine”. Although disappointed we were determined to try again.

The next morning we all set off for the Wild Foods Festival, just a short walk away from the school where we were parked. Today was also auspicious because it was Bruce’s birthday, so many of our team promised to buy him all sorts of  wonderful (i.e. hideous) things to eat. We resolved to try a few things on offer, but Dearne set an early pace as she ate huhu grubs, a chocolate coated cricket and a cupcake with a wire worm on top.

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Bruce and I decided we had better keep pace a tried a snail each.

I think it is safe to say neither of us were too impressed, although how Bruce would know I am not sure as he admitted to swallowing it whole! We also tried honey roasted crickets (OK I suppose) and kebabs made of a piece of rabbit (tough), wild pork (nice), wild venison (also nice), goat (also a bit tough) and wallaby (OK).

We then tried the different foods that were not so controversial – a waffle with wild blackberry consomme and cream (yum) and a Dutch donut (very yum).

There were several bands playing at the concert but the two acts that we particularly enjoyed were Katie Thompson, a local singer song writer, and the NZ Army Band. It was great just sitting on the grass, relaxing, and enjoying the music while looking at all the outlandish costumes that people wore for the occassion.

We finally headed back to camp to take the dogs out and have a bit of a relax before all getting together for a final happy hour before we all dispersed for various places the next morning.

Bruce and I decided to stay on for a couple of days firstly because the weather forecast was not flash, but also because we wanted to have a look around town a bit more, and do some shopping and laundry.

The NZMCA Camp is right on the banks of the Hokitika River, so it was a pleasure to be able to take the dogs down onto the river shores for a walk. The real bonus was that there were White Spoonbills enjoying feeding in the shallows of the river, as well as NZ Dotterels. I could not see if the dotterels were the rare banded ones that are supposed to be in the area, as they were too far away and quite shy.

Needless to say we did some more fossicking and came away with more samples – the van will go slower from now on because of the added weight.  I don’t hold out much hope that any will be genuine greenstone, but we had fun just the same.

The final quote of the day was seen at the Wild Foods Festival. It was quite good I think.