The Whitestone Geopark team have a wild weekend at Otago Field Days in Palmerston.
We made lots of new friends at the Otago Field Days in Palmerston Otago on the weekend. The kids enjoyed our fossil dig (and it didn't hurt that we were enticing the grown-ups into our stall with Whitestone Cheese and the possibility of Pasquale wine). Thanks to everyone who filled in our survey and let us know how we can build a better geopark.
The East Otago town of Palmerston is situated towards the Northern border of the Waitaki District. The attractive, sheltered showground venue where Field Days is held is accessible to a substantial number of farming and rural industries. Local 'Field days' are held all over New Zealand and are festival events where the agricultural, and primary sector industries and the public can come together to promote innovation, education, technology and internationalisation.
On Saturday the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark stall nearly got blown away by some wild weather but it was all sunshine and smiles on Sunday with lots of visitors to our stall and lots of questions (hopefully) answered. It was really useful of us to gauge the level of awareness in the community about our proposal to become a UNESCO Global Geopark and what people think it will mean for their town and the Waitaki District.