My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 2: Stone Collecting

I bought some stones from Vince Burke at the Gemstones and Fossil Museum. I normally only like to collect what I find but there are special exceptions – and the Museum is a special place. Vince threw in some extras as well, so I came away with two rock agates from the Woolshed Creek area near Mt Somers, three large agate stones from Birdlings Flat, and some petrified and agatised wood from the Hororata River area. 

But my main purpose that day was to find stones of my own that I could polish. So after I had visited the Gemstone and Fossil Museum, I spent about 2 1/2 hours on the beach, concentrating my time on the northern end, walking all the way to the cliffs. The wind was much stronger, but down near the waves was the lowest part of the beach and somewhat sheltered from the north-wester. There were slightly more people around this day than the previous one – mainly fishing and, like me, hunting for stones.

I chatted with three people. Charles came from Christchurch and had been interested in stone collecting for just a couple of months – he had a friend who polished stones but did not himself have a tumbler. Charles was nearing retirement age, like myself. He explained to me that he was mainly looking for agate stones – he gave me some he had found. I had not developed the eye to find them as they are rather plain looking and I tend to seek out colour. As we talked, Charles said, “Oh look, there’s one!” and he stepped a metre away to pick up a small agate. And a minute later, he spotted another one not far away.

Walking eastwards along the beach at Birdlings Flat

A fisherman ahead, and then Charles, who gave me some of the agates he had just found

I reached the cliffs at the end of the beach but did not linger long under them.

That night, I washed and inspected the stones I had collected.

Some of Day Two’s stones.

The agate stones I took away with me, most of them given to me by people I met on the beach.

The Museum stones. At the top is a rock agate from the Woolshed Creek area of Mt Somers; there is another one of these at right centre. At left centre are three large agate stones from Birdlings Flat. At the bottom, closest to the camera, is some petrified wood (left) and some dark agatised wood (right), from the Hororata River area.

Later I ran into a woman who I found out was the daughter of Vince Burke, the Museum man. She was also out looking for agates and generously gave me a handful. Later still, I encountered a local on his afternoon walk who told me a bit about the beach and its dangers. “It’s a killer beach”, he said. The waves can be treacherous, coming in further and more quickly than one anticipates – turn your back on them to your peril. And it gets deep quickly off shore – people who go in after their dog can get into trouble. He also gave me a few agates he had collected that afternoon. 

I reached the cliffs at the north end of the beach but did not linger there. Charles had explained that one of the Christchurch area earthquakes had brought down part of the cliff-face. I had experienced a small but distinctly-felt earth tremor the night before in Christchurch and I was uneasy to focus too long on the stones at my feet when a mass of over-hanging cliff loomed above. 

I collected somewhere between five and six kilograms of stones that day, to add to the eight kilograms from Day One. That evening I packed them carefully into both my cabin baggage and checked baggage for my flight the next day back to Hamilton. Heavy bags!

Author: tumblestoneblog

Retired Academic, male, living in the New Zealand countryside near Whanganui with his wife as well as Jasper the dog, Fluffy the cat, Dancer and Penny, the horses, and a shed half-full of stones. Email john.tumblestone@gmail.com. View all posts by tumblestoneblog