Man, forking ferry day was a really long day. The South Island is much less populous so far, the roads are way more twisty, and the towns spread far apart! We left the ferry and got our new rental car, a Toyota Land Cruiser which is a major upgrade from the RAV4! It is probably the nicest vehicle I’ve driven in terms of luxury. Ashish and Josh tag teamed the next 4 1/2 hrs of driving corkscrew roads as we searched for food. Dinner was at a pretty swanky lodge but lodgings were at a pretty typical hostel, complete with random bright colors painted everywhere and the smell of mold. Today’s adventure besides the epic driving was to spend the day carving our own greenstone (a form of jade) necklaces at Bonz’N’Stonz studio in Hokitika. We left the hostel early so we could try and find our own pieces of jade on the beach. We made two stops and picked up a load of green rocks, all of which turned out to NOT be the right greenstone! We did see some Blue Penguin tracks on the beach but no actual penguins (yet).

The owner of Bonz’N’Stonz, Steve, was an excellent teacher and very patient with us. We got to choose our own design or create one, pick our rock, and then start the shaping process. Most of the rough shaping was done on grinding wheels and then the fine shaping was done with small dremel like tools. It took us about 5 hrs from start to finish but we were all pretty slow and careful. Steve and his apprentices were super friendly and laid back. If you are thinking of buying a greenstone necklace, I’d instead recommend going to his studio and carving your own! The experience was totally worth it!