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@Doctor Mud and I managed to get away for an overnight hike / fossil hunt we have been talking about for ages! We set off with high hopes around 11am from near Motunau Beach in New Zealand and within 2min,I found a beautiful crab fossil and a new species for me, an Actinocarcinus sp. A little further into the hike I noticed some shiny flecks in the cliff which turned out to be some cookie cutter looking shark teeth, probably Miocene era. This was really exciting for me as I don't often find shark teeth here where I am. It was an incredibly hot day, somewhat cooler than it should be because of all the smoke from the Australian bush fires which gave everything a rather strange tint. The first few hours were quite easy as it was all sand, but the going got really tough once we hit the jagged boulders that make up most of the coast in North Canterbury. We spent the new 5 or 6 hours clambering over them, exploring little coves full of cobble stones every few hundred meters or so. There was no shortage of cetacean bone and towards the end of the first day I found my first whale ear bones! I was over the moon with this find, I've been wanting to find some for ages. After a looooong day of hiking, we made camp just before 10pm, scoffed down some sausages and tried to get some sleep. We didn't quite get to the spot we intended to, so we had to make do as best we could which for me meant a night on some cobblestones The next morning we got up bright and early, a bit rough around the edges and headed back. Just after breakfast, we stopped and rescued a trapped sheep which seems to have been good for our karma because Doctor Mud made an amazing find later that day, I will let him share that himself. We got back to our car around 3pm and headed for the nearest coffee shop to feed the caffeine craving - neither of us had brought coffee along! It was a great hike and we saw some beautiful places Here is the video of day 1: