The West Coast: where the jade is

It rained only one day of our tour de South Island, in Hokitika, where the jade is. All the tour buses stop in Hokitika for the tourists to get out and buy jewelry. And they say that you can find pieces of jade on the beach if you're lucky.
Pounamu, hard nephrite jade, is revered by Maori in New Zealand. Translated literally as "greenstone," this is its common name in New Zealand. In pre-European New Zealand culture, Maori people used pounamu rather than durable metals for both practical, warfaring and decorative uses: adzes (axes) and chisels were used for carving, mere (clubs) were used for hand-to-hand combat, and pendants were made for jewelry. This semi-precious stone is found in limited areas of the world, including, of all places, Wyoming.
"Sorry you didn't get better weather here," said the clerk at the Saint Vincent de Paul Opportunity Shop (thrift store), "but this rain is so good for our native bush." You may be wondering why we were in an Op Shop and not in a jade shop. This is a good question. Apparently Brian is happiest a)when he is farming, and b)when he is in a thrift store. Really, he gets giddy. After he purchased a choice sleeveless t-shirt that said "Hokitika [insert rugby team name here]" on the front and "Bruce" on the back, he asked which places on the beach would be best for jade-hunting. "Oh, anywhere along the beach I guess," the clerk responded. "But you're not likely to find anything." "Well my garden is just full of jade," another customer piped in. "We bought Gary Sands' place, and he was a jade dealer, and he just left these huge boulders there, all jade. He really loved his pets too - there are jade headstones to Sparky the cat and other pets all over the backyard."
The Rough Guide, Kristin read, said that "some of your fondest memories of the West Coast might well be chance encounters one evening in the pub [or Op Shop], rather than the sights." I guess they were right.
At Tectonic Jade, the finest in jade artistry, however, we picked up a hot tip: Barrytown, about 25km north of Hokitika, is the best place to find jade on the beach. And a rainy day was the best time, since they stones would glisten. "Just look for the green," the woman said.
We got fish 'n' chips from Porky's Takeaways (not as scary as it sounds), and then headed straightaway to Barrytown. We changed into shorts, so that we wouldn't get our pants all wet, and donned our rain gear. As it turns out, nearly all the stones on the beach look green. We had a heck of a time figuring out which ones were the real thing. After a bit of searching we just picked up the stones that were pretty, but each of us found at least a tiny piece of what we are deeming actual New Zealand greenstone. Now there's a memorable moment for you.