A Message from Mum

I headed for Hokitika Gorge today.  Lake Mapourika was beautiful, but I thought I'd find a real contrast to it. The water in the Gorge truly is naturally this colour!  

I'm never keen on the walk across that swing bridge as I hate heights, but it is always worth it.

On the way I also spotted herons nesting in the trees across the river.  One Extra is the heron just after he bought in food - I assume so she can stay on the eggs although there may be chicks under her.  Extra 2 is the river downstream from the gorge.

On the walk to the Gorge I bumped into an old friend from my time of living in Hokitika in my 20's.  He is now living in Tauranga.  Turned it out he recently bought a camper van and this is his first trip in it.  He has never stayed in an NZMCA camp before and was a bit nervous about not knowing 'how' to - I can understand that - I'd been a member for more than 5 years before I gave it a go.  So I threw out my plan of staying at my cousins place in Hokitika and came out to the camp instead - we're parked up here now and he's cooking me dinner (I contributed the drinks and cheese and crackers).

The walk to the Gorge is dog free and I had to leave Azzy in the Van, so to be fair to her, when I left there I took her down to the beach for a huge run.  

When my mother lived in Hokitika she went for a walk along the beach most days.  Many people find 'green' stone on the beach and think it is greenstone. 99% of the time it is serpentine.  Actually spotting greenstone is an art, one Mum had down pat, and most days she would find a piece - generally tiny chips about the size of a fingernail.  Today I was wandering along with the dog, thinking about Mum and her walks on the beach and most definitely not looking for ponamu because spotting it was definitely never an art of mine, when a wave caught me by surprise.  When it receded there were two stones stuck in my sandal.  One a small heart shaped one, and the other a piece of greenstone.  Obviously Mum was sending a message!  (See additional Extra which I will load from my phone). 

I was pretty certain it was actually greenstone but to make sure I wasn't imagining it I took it in to an acquaintance who carves ponamu.  He confirmed that it is definitely the real thing, and said that although it isn't a quality piece he can make it into a necklace for me if I want him to.  I think I'll keep it as it is, as Mum 'gave' it to me, but it was an appreciated offer!