Mountain Jade Highlights Tour
Description
In the heart of Rotorua's city centre, just a short walk from the must-see Government Gardens, our artists are absorbed in their craft, passionately hand-carving New Zealand pounamu with love and dedication. They invite you to come and discover the stories behind their carvings and step inside our studio for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes experience. You’ll get up close to the action and spend unforgettable one-on-one time with our artists, learning about the jade carving process and watching live carving demonstrations. As you embark on a journey into the rich history of pounamu, you’ll discover fascinating insights into the cultural significance of the stone and its traditional uses and values. To top it all off, you will choose your very own piece of pounamu and learn how to string it into a necklace to take home and treasure forever. Available at 10.00 am, daily. Infant ages are 0-2 years.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet local artists as they craft jade by hand and immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and atmosphere of our carving workshop. Your guide will take you on an in-depth journey into the history of jade carving in New Zealand, uncovering the significance of pounamu for Māori and exploring the traditional uses and values of the stone. You'll see the highlights of our jade gallery and then head to the studio to spend exclusive time with our artists, learning about the carving process and watching them work. After visiting the studio, you'll get to choose and string a piece of New Zealand pounamu, turning it into a necklace to take home and treasure forever.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Not recommended for people who cannot stand for 40-minutes as limited seating available
Reviews(41)
My Family loved it, Highly recommend, Tour guides were really helpful, Lovely, Learned alot especially my children Lovely Ponamu Jade received as a Gift all my children & Partner cannot speak Highly and would love too do it again.
Informative look into the history and culture behind Pounarmu (New Zealand green stone) followed by a hand crafting demonstration. The shop items were also very reasonably priced.
Amazing experience and worth the money, you even receive your very own Pounamu necklace to cherish!
Hoped to see more in depth carving by the artist. The carving portion of the tour was 5 mins. The staff was kind and helpful, the completed pieces in the shop were beautiful. I wouldn't recommend the tour, just visit the shop.
My friend and I had a fabulous visit in Rotorua with Kaylynn as our "tour guide". She shared authentically about the cultural and historical significance of pounamu, and Dylan did an excellent job explaining the art of cutting and shaping the pieces. James was also in the room and had a magnificent design he was working on. Beautiful showroom and pieces for sale in all budgets. I've been wearing mine since our visit.
Very interesting history of pounamu carving in NZ, and tge different types of stone. Fascinating demo of the stone shaping and carving which shows how much work goes into these. An added bonus was being able to choose a pendant to take home
This was really cool to learn about and watch the carvers in action. The piece of jade you get at the end is chosen by you and placed on a string then and there so you can wear it and feel part of the deeply meaningful jade culture. Loved it!
Wonderful experience with an experienced guide and jade carver. We learned a lot and felt very warmly welcomed. The small jade gift at the end was the icing on an already wonderful tour. Thank you!
Very cool multifaceted (pun intended) overview of Jade in New Zealand. Goes over the history and the culture surrounding jade or pounamu, and a cutter shows us his process and equipment live. Very informative and cool. The souvenir was great too and I’ll wear it as a necklace. P.S. that’s one huge chunk of nephrite jade
Very nice experience, informative demonstration on jade, its significance in the Maori culture and how it is crafted
