On 14 May, New Zealand moved to Covid-19 Alert Level Two, lifting the majority of lockdown restrictions while maintaining physical distancing. It’s now been more than a week since New Zealand had a new Covid-19 case and there is currently only one active case left in the country. The move to Level Two means travel is now possible to different parts of the country. I have taken the opportunity to embark upon a three-week stone collecting trip to the South Island by car, crossing Cook Strait by ferry on Wednesday 27 May. The following are the up-dates I posted on Facebook for the first five days of the trip.
Day One, Wellington/Picton to Cheviot – Stopped on the beach some 60 kms north of Kaikoura and found lots of interesting white stones with dark shapes on them. Some of the shapes were very reminiscent of worm cast fossil traces – I will need to do a bit of research and sort out any connection. I found a few other types of stones as well. There were also lots of roadworks and seals along the coast.
[The stones are probably some kind of limestone and the dark shapes are definitely trace fossils. Whether they will polish or not is questionable due to the relative softness of the stones.]
Day Two, Cheviot to Birdlings Flat – Foggy this morning on the road for the first 30 minutes, sunshine the rest of the day though it struggled to get past 13 degrees. Some brilliant autumn foliage, especially in North Canterbury. I arrived at Birdlings Flat at noon, about 6 or 7 others collecting stones on the beach too. With the sun so bright and low in the sky, it was hard to pick out details of stones but I managed to find a few of interest, especially some nice quartzites. On the way to Christchurch for the night, saw some thick cloud clinging to the top of the Port Hills. Will visit Birdlings Flat again tomorrow.
[I found some typical Birdlings Flat stones with interesting colours and patterns.]
Day Three, Birdlings Flat – Cloudy and cool today, but the lack of sun meant that I could see the stones better. There was a 50 metre wide strip of wet stones along the shore-line which stayed wet, showing the colours of the stones. I walked up and down this strip, not along the beach – going towards the wave-line then back from it, zigzagging down the beach.
In the three hours I was there, I found quite a few interesting stones, mainly quartzites, in a relatively small space (about 300 metres of the beach).
Day Four, Christchurch to Oamaru, Side Trip to Beach near Hinds – On my way to Oamaru, I turned eastwards at Hinds (100 kms south of Christchurch) to come out at the coast after about 20 kms just north of the Rangitata River mouth. It is said that stones brought down from the Alps by this river eventually make their way to Birdlings Flat (100 kms away). And the evidence supports that view. In the 90 minutes I was there, I collected a few quartzites of the type that can also be found at Birdlings, a few of which are quite stunning. There were quite a few jasper stones on the beach, and I found one small agate fragment.
Day Five, Oamaru to Gore, Side Trip to Beach near Kakanui – Just south of Oamaru I headed to the coast near Kakanui. My friend and former University of Waikato colleague David has a holiday home there and has encouraged me to see what stones might be found on the beach. I was very pleasantly surprised to find many nice quartzites there, especially the yellow/gold ones I particularly like. Another sunny day, cool, but excellent for fossicking mainly due to the lack of wind.
See here for the next Post in this Series.
I highly recommend stopping at the beach in Hampden for a fossick.
Just 2 weekends ago I found a beautiful big botryoidal agate not even 10 meters from the carpark and playground.
I’ve also found around 15 agates in the past week at Rangitata Beach and 3 more at Browns beach near Temuka.
Many thanks for your recommendations, much appreciated! I will make sure I have time to check these out on my way back north.