Whitebait Passion in Hokitika

Sadly, Sunday brought colder weather and rain. We all hopped in the car and went to the Greymouth branch for sacrament meeting. Brian and I didn't know beforehand that there was a branch there, so we didn't have church clothes. I can't remember ever going to church in street clothes before and I was a little embarrassed, but I guess it was better than not going at all.

Of course I got asked to play the piano (err, keyboard) - I think they were glad to not have to use a recording for once and I was glad I could help. There was extra time at the end of the meeting so the Branch President asked the visitors if they'd like to share anything. Brian took up the mantle for our merry little group and gave a great little impromptu talk.

After church, we decided to take a drive South of Greymouth to nearby Hokitika. Before we got there, we noticed some art in front of one of the houses. What kind of art you ask? Why, toilet art of course! So the boys decided they would pose with it - even in the rain it was worth it lol.

Brian and Aaron Downes "using the facilities"

Hokitia is a very small town with basically some tourist shops and the beach. We did find a little museum that we decided to walk through to pass some of the afternoon. The museum was in an old library and I just loved the old and classic look to it. It's a beautiful building.

The main thing we learned about the West Coast during our tour of the museum is that Kiwi's love their whitebait. Have no idea what I'm talking about? Here's the description from the museum.

This is some dried whitebait along with my "its icky" face

There's even a game!

...and art. This is a picture of 5 whitebait swimming

There were some other interesting things to see at the museum besides the whitebait.

Brian loves his clubs. These weapons were all made of jade/greenstone, which is abundant on the West coast

Silvia is taking a little rest in a large smelting pot. I'm not sure if it was comfortable or not, but she looks happy! 

I had to take a picture with this awesome antique piano

There was also some wonderful art in the museum, including these arrangements made out of dyed flax. It's so cool what they can do with plants.

 One last picture of the museum to show a little more of its "character".

We did a little more scenic driving on our way back to Greymouth to say goodnight and goodbye to the Downes'. We are off to see the glaciers tomorrow and our friends are heading home. Thanks again Aaron and Silvia for spending part of your weekend with us. And congratulations on your six year anniversary!

I'm adding a little more about Hokitika here because Brian and I stopped here again on Monday after visiting the glaciers and it just seemed to fit better here. Monday was much nicer weather than Sunday, so we stopped by the beach. 

I love the flavor of small towns. They have used driftwood to construct a sign on the beach. So cool. Also, Ike makes his first appearance! He has been with us the whole time, but dogs weren't allowed on the walks we took in Punakaiki so he had to stay behind.

Having trouble with the phone, but what a cute smile

The pictures of me are meant to be viewed together. I am standing in basically the same spot as Brian did, and as you can see from the first picture, it looks pretty safe. 

Then out of nowhere a huge wave crashed on the beach and totally soaked my pants above the knees. And that water was cold!!! Ike wasn't too happy about that either...

And Brian makes his traditional West Side pose. We had planned to put our feet in the ocean on both the West and East coasts today as we were driving back to Christchurch that afternoon. But several delays (including an accident) and bad weather rolling into Christchurch put us back in town pretty late and we didn't get it done. But we could have and that's the important thing!