The University of Otago geology department hosted an "Explore the geology museum" event as part of the Wild Dunedin festival yesterday.
Geology department curator and outreach co-ordinator Dianne Nyhof said the day was all about spiking the interest of pupils and the public about all things geology.
"It was a very good point for kids to start looking at the world around them and go ‘oh wow, that’s really interesting’," she said.
For pupil Parker Adams, it was a "dream come true", as he was finally able to speak with a geologist about his fascination with all things rocks.
Parker’s mother Sonya Adams said he spent a lot of time in the backyard digging up rocks.
"He calls it ‘mining’, he digs up stones and even has his own station for washing and storing his finds.
"He had a really good time exploring the museum and talking to a geologist," she said.
Parker said his favourite rock in the museum was the magnetite, a shiny mineral composed of iron oxide.
The museum collection includes a trilobite rock extracted from Cobb Valley, Nelson in the 1950s which contains fossilised trilobites dating back 500million years.
Mrs Nyhof said the day was a success and the people who came stayed for a long time exploring the museum.
"It was brilliant, it went really well.
"We had a lot of people attend that don’t usually come in," she said.
The Wild Dunedin festival continues until April 23.
