After we got off the (horrible, very bad, no good) (Kara says: amazing, fun) Copland Track, we drove straight to Hokitika! I had been excited to visit Hokitika since Christmas at Duvauchelle, when I started researching jade a bit more and realized that Hokitika is the city for it. Hokitika was a really excellent place in which to spend some time. It was nice to be in a (slightly) larger city after so many tramping-filled days, and we got to do a bit of fun shopping.
Our first night there, though, we just relaxed! We got some food, we got some showers, and we went to bed pretty early. We did have one fun and kind of surreal experience-- as we walked to get groceries that evening, we stumbled on a tiny marching band in a completely empty street, playing away. So random! Minorly creepy! A nice welcome to town.
So, let's talk jade! In New Zealand, there is a rare form of jade that is called pounamu in Maori, which translates to greenstone in English. Pounamu was and is very prized by Maori people. They believe that it is imbued with “mana”, or prestige and spiritual power, and that to have it is a powerful symbol for a tribe and for the owner. Pounamu carvings are often passed down through generations, and they must be received as a gift and not found or carved for oneself. Pounamu used to be used as a weapon-- it is an extremely hard stone, and warriors would use a club-like weapon, a mere or patu, for battle. But now, mostly, it is carved into jewelry, especially necklace pendants. There are a few traditional carvings that have important spiritual meanings to the Maori people, and you'll most often find those images for sale in New Zealand shops.
Pounamu is found on the West Coast, and so the West Coast (with Hokitika as the center) is where the best local carvers reside. You have to be careful when buying jade at a tourist-destination in NZ- a similar type of jade is found in British Columbia, and you're as likely to end up buying that without realizing it as not. Kara and I knew that we wanted to buy each other pounamu, but we decided to ignore birthdays and Christmas and get each other our gifts when we were at the right place!
Before I could start shopping for Kara, though, I had another jade activity before me! I woke up very early to head to a carving studio called Bonz 'n Stonz, where I was able to carve my own pounamu necklace. It was a nice change of pace to get out of the woods and do some art! I was a bit undecided as to whether or not to do it; jade carving in NZ is a historically Maori activity, and carvers work for years to perfect their craft. I didn't want to come in as some ignorant tourist and make my own, as though that could match up. But Bonz 'n Stonz had excellent reviews and it seemed like the teacher would (of course) be very helpful in the process, and I have a best friend who I knew would really appreciate a handcarved pounamu necklace from me, so I decided to do it!
It was really exciting! When I got to Bonz 'n Stonz, they showed me a book of ideas that I could choose from for my necklace (though I could have gone in with my own drawing.) I already knew which traditional shape I wanted to carve, so I chose my favorite example of it and cut it out on a piece of paper. Then, it was time to pick my jade! Steve, who runs the studio, showed me a few different pieces and I picked the segment of piece that I liked best. It was found in by lake Kaniere, near Hokitika. And then it was time to carve!
I actually found my piece for Kara that day at Tectonic Jade, after a really fun and long conversation with the shop attendant. Unfortunately, I never got to meet the artist there, but his name is Rex and he's very talented.
Kara says: Also, lest we forget, we went to Sock World.
Our second day in Hokitika was the official jade buying/gifting day. In the morning, Kara and Jordan and I mostly did our own shopping thang (Kara didn't yet know that I'd already found hers), and we met up for lunch at a delicious pizza place. After that, we headed towards the beach and the Tasman Sea. Hokitika has a really great beach- it's very desolate in the way that remote beaches sometimes are, which is a more unique sight since it's also right on a decent sized town. They have a really picturesque wood-sculpture welcoming you to the beach! (See the first photo of this post.)
NO SUPRISE, given that we both loved the studio and have similar tastes, but we both got each other necklaces from Tectonic Jade! And we both got each other a koru design carved from flower jade! The koru symbolizes new beginnings (as its shape is reminiscent of an unfolding fern frond), and so it was a very appropriate design. WE LOVE THEM. I'm never taking mine off!
Kara says: we actually chose two pieces that were sitting right next to each other in the same case. Haha! I had actually chosen which pounamu that I wanted to get for Lizzy, but decided to wait and sleep on it (a pounamu is a very personal gift). When I went in the next day, the pounamu next to it was mysteriously missing.....
The morning is when I woke up to a USED TISSUE ON MY PILLOW, FLATTENED BY MY FACE. DORM LIVING!!?!? I guess the welsh guy above me threw it off his bed in the middle of the night and it landed on my pillow????!? What do you do about something like that? Cry? Cry a LOT???? Get really sick? You can't yell at a 60 year old!!!! (Thank god, it's been a few days and I haven't gotten sick yet-- definitely because of all the dirt I ate as a child.) AAAAAAAAAAAAAH IT'S TOO TERRIBLE FOR WORDS.
That EVENING, after we arrived home from The Family Vacation, we had dinner and headed down to the beach for sunset. Hokitika actually had a point on their shore called Sunset Point, so naturally that was where we went. It was really magical (and a nice antidote to the tissue trauma). We watched the waves, the birds, the sun, and even a group of horse-riders cantering along with their dog. Lovely in every way.