Last week I visited Birdlings Flat. The weather and tide were very good. Even though it is just about winter, the temperatures were in the mid-20s (centigrade) due to a strong warm north-westerly wind. And the tide was going out, meaning that wet stones were accessible at the tide-line. Some cars were parked partly on the beach but I didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the loose stones so stayed up near the road. The walk to the sea is across about 300-400 metres of stones, mostly greywacke it seems, and sometimes sorted into different sizes by natural processes – a patch of larger stones is followed by a band of smaller stones. There were a couple of people fishing from the beach, a couple sitting and watching the waves, and a photographer tramped the stones near the eastern end. A motor-cyclist went up and down the beach a bit further west, but otherwise it was a very quiet scene.
When I reached the tide-line, I spent about 3 1/2 hours walking initially westwards along the beach before turning back and walking eastwards. I had intended to reach the cliffs at the east end but gave up before I got there as I had collected quite a few stones already, my backpack was getting heavy, and I knew I would be coming back the next day. Late afternoon, before heading back to Christchurch for the evening, I drove down Bayleys Road which runs along Kaitorete Spit. After about 9-10 kilometres, there is a beach access track. I spent about 30-40 minutes on the beach there, scanning for more stones. Here there is more sand and less stones but still some excellent pickings are possible.
I ended up with about 8 kilograms of stones.
See also My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 2: Gemstone and Fossil Museum and My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 2: Stone Collecting.
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