The Children of Waitaiki (West Coast) Arahura, South Island, New Zealand
By Moneydork on 13-Mar-10. Waypoint GC250H6

The sign that was key to this EC is missing. Time for me to free the area up for someone else to hide an EC here.

The text boards at the information sign is all missing.

Denna geocacharen rapporterade att det finns ett problem med cachen.

We also took the long drive to the empty sign so we did our research anyway and thoroughly enjoyed learning all about Jade, answers sent and many thanks for setting this interesting Earthcache and TFTC.

Many thanks for this one

Greetings from Edidan68 : France / Alsace

Merci pour la découverte - Dziękuję za zabawę - Dankie vir die pret - Faleminderit për argëtimin - ስለ ጨዋታዎ አመሰግናለሁ - Thank you for the fun - Əyləncə üçün təşəkkür edirik - Eskerrik asko dibertigarriagatik - মজার জন্য আপনাকে ধন্যবাদ - дзякуй за гульню - Hvala na zabavi - Благодаря ви за забавлението - Salamat sa kalipay - 謝謝你的樂趣 - Hvala vam na zabavi - Děkuji vám za zábavu - Zikomo chifukwa cha zosangalatsa - Tak for det sjove - Dankon pro la amuzo - Tänan teid lõbu eest - Salamat sa kasiyahan - Kiitos hauskuudesta - Tankewol foar it wille - Grazas pola diversión - Σας ευχαριστώ για τη διασκέδαση - გმადლობთ, რომ გართობა - આનંદ માટે આભાર - Na gode da fun - Mahalo iāʻoe no ka hauʻoli - मज़े के लिए धन्यवाद - Gracias por la diversión - Ua tsaug rau kev lom zem - Daalụ maka ntụrụndụ - Terima kasih atas kesenangannya - Grazie per a diversione - Mèsi pou plezi a - Hûn ji bo kêfxweşiyê - ຂອບໃຈສໍາລັບການມ່ວນຊື່ນ - Ačiū už linksmą - Merci fir de Spaass - tibi gratias ago pro ludens - Paldies par jautrību - Ви благодариме за забавата - രസകരമായതിന് നന്ദി - Terima kasih kerana bersenang-senang - Misaotra anao amin'ny fialam-boly - Grazzi għall-pjaċir - Mauruuru koe mo te ngahau - गंमतीदार धन्यवाद - Хөгжилтэй байгаа танд баярлалаа - मजाको लागि धन्यवाद - Bedankt voor het plezier - Danke für den Spaß - Takk for moroa - Շնորհակալություն հաճույքի համար - ਮਜ਼ੇਦਾਰ ਲਈ ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਧੰਨਵਾਦ - Obrigado pela diversão - Спасибо за удовольствие - Mulțumesc pentru distracție - Faafetai mo le malie - Хвала на забави - Ndinokutendai nokuda kwomufaro - Ďakujem vám za zábavu - Hvala za zabavo - Waad ku mahadsantahay madadaalada - Kea le leboha ka monate - Asante kwa furaha - hatur nuhun keur maén - විනෝදයට ස්තුතියි - Tapadh leibh airson an dwpiemy- Eğlence için teşekkür ederim - Дякую за веселощі - Qiziqarli uchun rahmat - Diolch am yr hwyl - Köszönöm a szórakozást - Cảm ơn vì sự vui vẻ - Grazie per il divertimento - Siyabonga ngokuzonwabisa - Siyabonga ngomnandi.
Edidan68 - 8325

Thanks for bringing us here and placing this EC. We enjoyed it very much!

Tftc. Sign has disappeared.

Drove home from Blenheim via the coast and came across this bridge and noted an EC that needed looking into. Did the research and emailed answers to CO. Logging with permission.
Always have liked how the stone is carved into objects. Rushed down the coast with not much time to really stop and look around. Will have do to the trip again in a couple of years pre retirement.

We were always tight for time when in the area but today we made a point of visiting GZ and getting the answers. The rich history associated with Pounamu is fascinating. Answers have been forwarded to the CO. Thank you Moneydork

We have driven past this cache so often so today we thought it time to rectify that.
Earthcaches are always so informative and this one is no exception.
Answer(s) emailed to the CO.
Thank you Moneydork.

This was an interesting place. Unfortunately it was not allowed to take an example with us. Thanks for showing this place!

TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC! TF TC!

We are finally getting around to logging some of the earth caches that we have been to and found the required information and taken the required photos.
We really love this part of the world, so it was interesting to come and explore a wee area that we had not been to before.
The earth cache research was interesting as we read a lot of information before we settled on what we wanted to send to the CO in order to meet the requirements. We appreciate these types of caches as the learning would probably not happen if it were not for geocaching.
Thanks for providing us with the motivation to visit here and to do the learning and of course thank you for the smilie
Logging with permission from the Cache Owner, thanks Moneydork

Unfortunately there is no longer a signboard at the river but it's a lovely spot. I took a photo here to show I was here seeing I couldn't answer the question. Other answer emailed to CO. Borrowed my nephew Sir Belac's Pounamu pendant to take a photo. Thanks for an interesting earthcache Moneydork

#7646

First visit to New Zealand, and what a way to see this beautiful country - a lap of the South Island by motorhome! We started in Christchurch and then headed for the hills of the Southern Alps.

Us geocachers are often fossicking as well, and we also travel the length of countries to do so, but we don't often find any precious or even semi-precious stones. Still, we value that Tupperware almost as much as the Maoris valued the pounamu.
One of the info boards was missing so I had to make some educated guesses.
Answers emailed and confirmed by the CO.
Thanks Moneydork.

I knew that a Monkeydork EC would be a great one, so we made it a point to stop here on our way to Lake Moeraki. Unfortunately, I wandered into a Greenstone store which led to spending way too much money for Xmas presents this year. [:o] But now that I know what I'm looking at, we had the opportunity to pick up some of these stones on a beach nearby our lodge. Wow! tftec!

Found this on our journeys through the West Coast. Had a lovely day for a drive and cache, though the way point is now just a picture frame for the river

Cheers and thanks for the Earthcache MoneyDork

We drived to the sign but we found only a lookout to the river... Anyway TFTC and greetings from Switzerland

I'ive started my beautiful trip of the South Island in Christchurch, I've visited many beautiful locations. I've travelled via Lake Tapeko, from Dunedin to the most southern part of Bluff. I've then continued with a cruise in Milford Sound and then back to Queenstown.
From there on I've visited Wanaka and the Haast pass to the Franz Josef glacier. I went all the way up to the Abel Tasman NP. Richmond und Nelson as the sonnierst cities were on my list as well.
I've soon reached the east coast in Picton and Blenheim.
After a couple of days, I've then travelled back to Christchurch via Kaikoura.
I've spent a couple of days in Christchurch and it's surroundings.
I've visited many geological sites and have found many caches along the way.
I've travelled 3500km and have experienced so much.
Thank you to all the owners
Team sissifalke

Mamma Mia

Great to drive along the river where much of the pounamu is found and to see this access point.

On our way back after a quiet day sightseeing. we stopped to see the relocated span of the 1887- 2009 Arahura bridge. [https://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/documents/Arahura%20River%20Bridge%20IPENZ%20Record%20Report%20(500%20KB).pdf ](https://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/documents/Arahura%20River%20Bridge%20IPENZ%20Record%20Report%20(500%20KB).pdf) Nice to know that other spans were reused in other parts of the railway network!

We'd combined forces with i-gotit a couple of days before and she had mentioned this earthcache, so this was next. The final answers were a combined effort!

Had heard the myths about how pounamu was formed, but never seen a non-mythical explanation... took us a while to do the research, that's for sure. Can't claim to understand the process, but can certainly see why greenstone is fairly rare. Particular thanks go to "Mr Rose Boulder" (who is a geologist by trade) who was grilled over Xmas dinner about what were the essential conditions for forming nephrite.

Thanks for the incentive to learn something new Moneydork - hard work, but exciting finding how a geological feature we'd been getting intimately associated with these holidays (not including the Alpine fault) is vital to forming greenstone.

I visited the site while travelling up the coast to meet up with the daywalk family in a rented house in Westport for a few days. They then visited the site when thy moved down to Hokitika a few days later. We then managed to get some information from my daughters partner, a freshly minted geologist who gave quite a comprehensive answer. some further research, mainly by daywalk gave more information. Luckily the damage to the information board hadn't destroyed the needed information. Photo to come.

This was the third day in New Zealand for me and micaparamedic near the end of an almost three month adventure. He arrived at my place in Washington State toward the end of July. From there we found some old caches in Oregon and then headed up north to The Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada.

Attending the mega APE event in Washington was followed by camping in Oregon to see the total solar eclipse. After a few day trips close to home, we headed to Australia for almost a month doing many things on my bucket list such as walking around Uluru and seeing the Sydney Harbour. Now we're spending a few weeks in New Zealand before once again going our separate ways. What a trip!

Today we were heading to the west coast to see mountains, glaciers and other interesting geological formations. It was a bit overcast, yet we could still see the snow capped mountains as we went.

What interesting thoughts about jade. I had always just thought of it as simply another rock; however, my mother treasured her piece of jade and now I have a better understanding of that.

Thanks for the additional information.

Thanks for a fun earthcache. Interesting history and some lovely stones in town.

Impressive stones. Love the earthcache and the history. The Cowell deposit in SA is supposed to be huge.

Driving towards Hokitika this morning we detoured to find out a bit more about Pounamu. Enjoyed reading the Maori legend, the information board, and doing the geological research. Thanks for the earthcache.

A couple of years ago we cycled the West Coast Wilderness Trail and rode down the upper part of the beautiful Arahura Valley. It was interesting to visit this river again and learn more about its famous greenstone. Logged with permission. Thanks for setting up this earth cache Moneydork.

Should have had a closer look at the listing... was not aware that WP2 was so far away. With a rental bike that was not my size I soon felt my backside... Alas, here I was and wanted to finish this EC. Off I went towards the infoboard when the chain jumped out. Argh... Could not be bothered getting dirty hands and decided to walk on. Soon the information was collected. On my way back it dawned on me that walking a pushbike along this road is not the best of ideas, so I did get my hands dirty which at least enabled me to bike back to the backpackers.
Thanks a lot Moneydork for the story and the EC

An interesting tale for this cache and a good lesson in jade production too, thanks for that I learned quite a bit from that. Logging this Earthcxache pending permission from CO.

Day 2 of our visit and after a trip to Coal Creek falls followed by a visit to Brunner mine we headed to Hokitika before dinner and a beer tasting at Monteiths. After grabbing our make a lunch provisions we headed into the jade capitral of the West Coast, Hokitika. On the way we stopped a couple of times, as you do, and made a few cache finds.

A chance for a trip away for a couple of days as mrs capperz has a couple of days off work, and so do I too so we decided it was to be a first trip across to the West Coast form mrs (her furthest previously had been the Buller swing-bridge). I'd got a few puzzles solved over this way and also wanted to get another cache owner total up into triple figures; this time g7&m have been added to my centenary statistics. A beautiful couple of days away seeing some of the best that the West coast has to offer and we saw some awesome scenery and sights, I even got my Earthcache total into triple figures too.

We really enjoyed this cache. We visited Greymouth and Hokitika in search of jade and made a long hike on the beach at Hokitika. We found a couple of large jade boulders. Thanks for this informative earthcache!

Having seen a lot of wonderful jewellery and huge stones polished to perfection in the shop windows of Hokitika, we appreciated this cache about the origins of this extraordinary stone even more. Both geology and mythology are fascinating.
Thanks for showing us this river and for the very interesting earthcache! A favourite point.

PS The message with our answers has been sent.

Wow this was awesome!!!! I left Piction this morning after catching the late ferry last night and made it to Franz Josef. I stopped for 5-6 ECs along the way utilizing the long lit days here. Driving the island IS the attraction here and I could do it for days. Wait, I am gonna do it for days but wish it was longer than 6. Many thanks for providing the road map to awesomeness. Wow I never would have found this if not for Geocaching. The little road to the sign was cool and I stopped to photo the nearby cows.

Enjoyed this jaunt and the story of the greenstone. Have mailed CO with the required information. Have chosen the photo to log here. TFTC

FINALLY logging all of my finds from the NZ Mega trip last year. Found with Seemyshell before heading back home to Sydney. Thanks for placing this cache

### TFTC ###

**OCW Ali600, Heading from Fox Glacier to Greymouth. Grabbed this one on the way.**
I'll be Vlogging my experiences in NZ, feel free to follow all my geocaching adventures on social media.
[Click Here for Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/theaussiegeocacherseemyshell/)
[Click Here for Twitter](https://twitter.com/Seemyshell)
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[Click Here for Periscope](https://www.periscope.tv/Seemyshell/)

On a big Easter caching mission with ZaraBus and TaybeeDragon. Lots of crawling through mines, climbing hills, walking through bush. And yet we only covered a tiny bit of the West Coast, between Greymouth and Hokitika.
As well as a very lonely cache, two earth caches were on my hit list. A rather unusual write up here, for an earth cache, but it still gets my fairly usual earthcache favourite!
For the photo we decided to wander into to Hokitika. Found a nice Jade shop, told them what we were up to and they let us photograph anything we wanted . They had a nice sign describing the varieties of Jade, and the assistant took us through them all, a very informative addition to this earthcache. Except that the sign described a karaka jade as having yellow in it, so named from the yellow tinged leaves of the karaka tree. REALLY?!? Karaka has orange berries, yes, but its leaves never go yellow. Despite the laugh I had over that this cache was a pretty cool experience, and we spent way to long in the shop. Awesome. Thank you, Moneydork!

ts Easter & have teamed up with The Seagnoid & Zara, for a magical mystery tour, exploring the amazing West Coast. Its Saturday and we are off exploring again, heading towards Hokitika.
For the photo we visited an amazing greenstone shop in Hokitika. The had some wonderful greenstone carvings and a large range of colours and types of greenstone. Also lots of info boards explaining it all. Loved coming here. Cheers

We probably wouldn't have headed up the road without this cache, so thanks for pointing out the interesting information board. Will add the photos asap.

Travelled up this road with Flying-Kiwi and found this interesting spot. TFTC!

Amazing nature you have in NZ. I've enjoyed it very much. Thank you for showing us this one. Picture I'll upload after my return home.

Lovely drive and cache. Bought some jade jewelry not too far away from Stan Mccullum
Photo posting and answers sent tonight.

On our way back from our Holiday we visited this earth cache. It was interesting to read a bit of the background story.
We had to look up some words and hope we understand what the owner was looking for.

Thanks for putting up a cache for the beautiful Pounamu. As our bed & breakfast is named after this beautiful stone (Bed & Breakfast Ponaamoo) = the way you pronounced the word

Holidays in New Zealand! We have been looking forward to them for years. We had lots of time to prepare ourselves for a great trip. As geocachers, we also picked out a number of great caches. Armed with a "to-do list" and accidental encounters we were lucky to log many caches. Thank you for placing them and keeping the game go on!

Day 16/28: Punakaiki - Franz Josef
Lots of driving, but not enough time for the many caches that we encountered. Thank you for this cache.

This was found number 6889

Greetings from the Netherlands

Found

On tour with Del84
As we approached the GZ for the info sign we encountered two working men. They were worried we were lost and came over to the car. After they showed us some stones that should have been similar to the greenstones found at the river we had quite a talk. Love the Kiwis! Always having a friendly word and some advice. We even met later on that day a guy in Ross, that sells greenstone jewellery and told us even more about the legends and the industry in New Zealand. So that was definitely the theme of the day.
Thanks for placing this earthcache and therefore giving us moments to remember!

On the road with Franzi5055.

Da wir sowieso hier vorbei fuhren, dieses Earthcache versucht zu lösen. Als wir ankamen sahen wir eine Baustelle mit zwei Arbeitern, welche uns sofort fragten ob wir uns verirrt hätten, als wir anhielten. Nach dem Lösen der Fragen liessen wir es uns nicht nehmen und schwatzten einwenig mit den Arbeitern. Gaben uns einige Tipps bzgl. Sehenswürdigkeiten. Danke fürs hinführen.
TFTC

#429

GrimRaider and headed out to grab a couple of caches today, including this earthcache. We were disappointed that we couldn't explore more fully but it was pouring down and we were already wet enough. So we gathered clues and have submitted our answers to the CO. I will load up a photo once I get the camera to talk to my laptop. Thanks a lot for this lesson on the riverstone - nicely put together earthcache

walk over the bridge

Found on our 25 day New Zealand South Island holiday.

Apologies for the late log but with little or no internet as we travelled and only super slow WiFi in van parks I decided to log all finds on my return home.

TFTC

A bit baffled as to why I haven't gone the extra miles to complete this before. Pleased to have the time to go and read the information panel today. The photo shares my special taonga. It was gifted to me from my colleagues at my last job as a taonga to a taonga - that is incredibly special. They even had it blessed especially for me so every time I wear it with great honour and it brings with it their collective wisdom. A very special cache thanks Moneydork. #6642

I thoroughly enjoyed this cache.....the research, the information about 'The Children' and then the shopping after the earthcache to find just the right pieces to take home to my loved ones. I will attach that photo as soon as I have the technology to do so.
I think that this earthcache may have started a love affair with Pounamu for me!!
many TFTC

This entry was edited by mossy5 on Saturday, 21 March 2015 at 05:16:58 UTC.

We were in Hokitika for a wee family weekends adventure. Spent the morning in Ross & now heading homewards to Christchurch with a couple tiny diversions (this EarthCache and a lovely Tunnel walk in Goldberg)....Was hoping to be able to walk down to the river and have a bit of an explore but with all the heavy rain the river was still running high, fast and muddy....another day!
Cool Earthcache & history. Loving it.
Cheers.

* * * * * 5134 * * * * *
Another great Earthcache in beautiful New Zealand's South Island. This is surely a stop that we (Bobbyboy and I, plus family) would never had made had it not been for the cache. After seeing jade in all the souvenir shops and in some high end stores, this explanation is really a neat lesson.
Thanks for bringing us to a really neat spot.
Merci beaucoup pour la cache.
VE2 YWS de Baie comeau, québec, Canada.

This cache is being logged as found with permission by the owner. I have the required pics and will upload when I get all sorted out back home. Thanks again.

Thank you for the permission to log this cache as found.
Stopped by here on a family vacation on South Island. We probably would have driven right past had it not been for the cache. We stopped and were pleasantly surprised.
We took a walk along the river looking for some jade, lots of possibilities, but not sure we found some.
Merci beaucoup pour la cache.
Bobbyboy68 de Koné, nouvelle Calédone.
Photos a venir.

Too bad - now that we are home again we realized that we confused the info signs and took the wrong photo with us.
Will have to come back here some day as, since of 29.01.2015 we both have a special connection to Pounamu.
Our personal ones are from here, Hokitika, from a very recommendable small place.
Team ERw2- Eva and Robert F. - We 2 (2512)

After a few different stops research and information was retrieved and sent in order to meet the requirements of this cache.The final cache for today.

Bit of a mission as we headed to the co'ods in the dark. Then raced off to the info board. Intetresting read. Now back to camp for the night. Cheers for the New Zealand history lesson.

Fun cache ! Having trouble getting the photo in. Will try again later.

Visited together with harrylime.
tftc

Found together with divingbrothers during our 4weeks tour through New Zealand.
TFTC
harrylime + Ingrid

yebo moneydork

have emailed the answers a couple of days ago

the story is dramatic and very tragic, like some from europe...
anyways, to go up the road to gather the information wouldn't have happened without geocaching....and , as the river was close, we tried to figure out , which stone inside the bed would be the "jade" , we just couldnt because of its variety
anyhow, we spend some hours i the town, purchased an NZ-Jade-jewel , had coffee and a bite and went along the road to the south

tftearthcache

Logged by permission, on Nov 16,2014
This was a wonderful cache, and a lot of fun to do.
After visiting the Auckland, and Wellington Museums, they made this cache even more enjoyed and better understood. This cache definitely makes one understand more about the Maori culture.

Thank you for this fine cache Moneydork,
RVC
#1298

Interesting history with this one. Enjoyable trip about the district. Found with 'The3fantails'.

A nice drive on a lovely back road, thankfully the information board was lovely & big so we didn't have to get out of the car to read it as it was a cold wet day. Thank you for bringing us to it.

Vielen Dank für den Einblick in einen Teil der Maori-Kultur. Es war interessant, ihn zu lesen und auch aufschlussreich für uns.
Tftc from mauliz/Germany/Berlin

Logged with permission.
We have had most of the information for this cache for some time, just requiring a visit to the upstream waypoint for completion. An interesting earthcache as we have both studied geology.

I seem to have by-passed this one lots of times, thinking I'm going to stop and then realising it's one step more complicated than that. No worries. Got it all sorted today. It's a fascinating story eh. Thanks!!!!

Going from Hokitika to Greymouth today, enjoying the fact that caches point out a few back roads. Thanks.

Awesome.
Been meaning to do this earthcache for some time now.
Thank you.

Tftc
185

Thanks for placing this earthcache and giving the opportunity to learn more about the Maori and Jade. New Zealand is a beautiful country. Our group enjoyed the river location and shopping in town. Email on the way with answers.

If not to geocaching, we would just have passed this interesting place and not noticed anything about the Jade. Today we have researched of Gold, Jade and Coal - now the cycle is complete!
Answers sent to CO

An interesting and informative cache, for which we have emailed answers, although we still have to provide the required photo, when we get back home. TFTC

Enjoyed completing this earthcache while exploring the area around Hokitika for the day. TFTEC.

During our tour along the west coast, we have inserted several stops to explore the history of jade.
This was very interesting and entertaining, so we were amazed at the many many different designs of jade and what was done artistically it.

We wish to thank the owner of this cache for the suggestion to deal with the issue of Jade and assign a FP.
Greetings from Dresden (Saxony), Hallu+Wolle

The distance for today was a little longer, so we arrived late at Franz Josef Glacier. On the way down there we visited a few caches and took some pictures. As the weather today was not that good, we decided to see the Glacier from above tomorrow and booked a helicopter tour for that at 8:30. Today we had a little time left to visit the Fox Glacier, so we walked all the way up to the glacier view point.

On the way we also passed this interesting place, but I didn't really understand what jade is "made" of or even what the geologicl process is. So, I'm not a geological expert .

(4 stars at [url=http://www.gcvote.com]GCVote[/url])

additional information: I will change my geocaching alias name from 'Schlitz13' to 'Megalodon'

Logged with permission. Not far from home so thought we better do this one. Thank you.

Loved the story. Had overseas visitors with us so great to show them the treasured stone. Spent night in Hokitika and admires all the carvings from pouamu. Lost my notes of this earth cache so relying on memory as it was two weeks ago that we were there and I am now completeing the information for earth caches.. Thanks for the great story.

Hey, woof... JC Cache Dawg here...

Im loading all my finds from my Alpha Males (aka GenCuster) logs, where he deigned to remember that I was with him... As if he could forget...10/01/13 15:15

never realised this is the main source of greenstone, and the story behind it, so thanks heaps!!

10/01/13 15:15 Had to detour via back road then ask a friendly digger operator further upstream for access as they were working on the river bank, closing the road. Worth it! JC Cache Dawg was spooked by a nesting bird by the info panel - shouldn't laugh but he's trained to leave birds and was skipping sideways away from the noise. Cheers, GC.

This entry was edited by GenCuster on Saturday, 19 January 2013 at 09:51:28 UTC.

We fund the required information and when we returned home rumaged through the family heirlooms and snapped our collection. Logged with permission TFTC.

Found this as we travelled about after the MEGA.


Found all the answers (we think) and email sent.

Photo to be uploaded at home with better access to internet.

TFTC Moneydork

Email sent

Came across this while we were traveling up the West Coast. We have seen plenty of Pounamu whilst in NZ, but didn't know the process of where it came from. Very interesting look into Maori history, really enjoyed this Earthcache
Thanks Moneydork

Because it was raining all day long and because our underwold rafting was canceld, ytrohS and myself had some extra time. And of cause we decided to do some geocaching

Whilst I was turning the car at one of the stages, ytrohS was collecting the necessary information. During our walk through the historic part of Hokitika we found a lot of Greenstone at the beach.

Thanks a lot,
Flo.33

While beeing in NZ we came across a lot of nephrite jade everywhere. I originally wanted to take a picture in a jewellery shop in Hokitika. But since the shops were closed already that day I took a picture with some jade that I found next to the Jade Factory. Thank you for the cache.

Logging with permission.
It was not hard to see a lot of pounamu in a 2 night stay in Hokitika. We try to do earth caches because they give us more information about the earth beneath us. This also told us some interesting Maori history.
Thanks.

Logged with CO's permission. A fascinating piece of local Maori history. It's great to have this information so well organised and available for locals and visitors alike. Thank you, Moneydork, for the cache which brought us here. Our photo has finished greenstone jewellery on a raw, unpolished, piece of waiata (maiden's tears).

We like Earthcaches, they make you explore and understand. This time it was about greenstone and we enjoyed it. Logged with permission, photo is maybe not as green as we wanted. TFTC

This cache took me some time to complete as I headed up the wrong side of the river to get to the second location. I got the photo in Greymouth and spent some time in the jade shop.

Some interesting Maori history and geological facts were learned during this one. Good earth cache. Answers emailed as requested and large stone spotted for the pick just beside our lunch stop. TFTEC.

Logging with permission - this is a neat area with lots of history - my daughters middle name is Jade so it holds a special affection for me Enjoyed finding out the info and the places we gathered the info from thanks for the Earthcache Photo has our gps sitting beside the greenstone at foot level

Did the first part of this cache on the way into town and then on traveling around we suddenly noticed that it's next waypoint was just down the road S after a brief search my stature came useful and cache was retrieved TFTC.
Logged with permission

Thanks for another informative Earthcache

Cool earth cache that had me look into greenstone in more depth than I had before. A friend recently gave me a special oxidised form of Marsden Flower Jade/Nephrite (see photo). Commercial carvers dispose of this portion as it has no commercial value, although in larger pieces these creamy coloured "imperfections" are often sold as giving the piece more character. Nice to acknowledge the official birthplace of Pounamu! The interesting thing is that I wouldn't recognise it in its natural form if I stubbed my toe on it


This entry was edited by beltfamily on Wednesday, 06 April 2011 at 20:38:54 UTC.

Really interesting earthcache with a visit to a very good signboard. Logged with permission. Good to see such a local tourist attraction highlighted.

Really enjoyed this well done earthcache, something rather unique and with special significance.
Many thanks for an interesting earthcache about the origins of Pounamu.

Answers emailed, TFTEC

Probably appropriate to visit this one on Waitangi Day Very informative and interesting earthcache. Logged with permission. TFTC

Found with MandzNZ. Good to get this one done, learned a lot about jade This area is very tidy now. TFTC

A interesting and educational Earth cache,
I found my piece of greenstone on a local beach.
Logged with permission. TFTC