I am finished with the West Coast of the South Island. I have a few more days to explore the North Coast, and then I take a ferry to the North Island. I have been in New Zealand for one month, and I have another month left.
On the same day the idiots were injured at the glacier, I also saw a meteor falling in daylight. It fell all the way to the horizon, so I am fairly certain it actually hit the ground. I have no idea how large, or how far away, it was. It is the first daylight meteor I have ever seen. I only saw it for about 1.5 seconds, as it was travelling very quickly, and was already near the horizon when I spotted it.
Yesterday morning, I did some jade carving. The town of Hokitika is known for “greenstone” carving. One of the hostels there has a jade carving workshop. I spent the morning there and made a simple cylindrical carving.
Actually, the hostel owner carves the shape using machinery, and what is left to do is just sanding and polishing. It took me about two hours to finish the piece. It is fairly large, but only cost NZ$40.
The New Zealand greenstone is nephrite jade, which is a lower quality stone than jadeite. That is why a large piece only costs NZ$40, while the very small jadeite disk I bought in Shanghai was US$100.
Michael Chmilar's Travels 