Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 5 to 6 (Gemstone Beach)

Days 1 to 4 are the subject of a previous Post.

Day 5, Sunday 21 February – First visit to Gemstone Beach, Orepuki, on this trip. Gemstone Beach is 30 kms from my base in Riverton, a 25 minutes drive. I spent 3 1/2 hours on the beach, arriving about an hour after high tide. A technical problem meant that all the photos I took couldn’t be downloaded so I took photos of some of the best finds back at the crib (bach or holiday home). It seemed that more stones had been piled up on the beach than my last trip in November, and there appeared to be fewer larger stones (though there were still many of them).

Here is a location map and a couple of photos of the beach taken on my phone today:

Gemstone Beach is at Orepuki at the eastern end of Te Waewae Bay, Source: Google Maps.

Gemstone Beach looking east.

Gemstone Beach looking west.

I have selected 12 of today’s finds to show you, all of them interesting, some even stunning. Here are the first six:

Interesting clear inclusions.

A different type of stone with different type of inclusions (more opaque).

Pastel-coloured stone with interesting veins. Looks like rhodonite but unsure of this.

Bright red.

A small green quartzite.

The tiny dark red veins caught my eye.

Here is the second set of six:

Could be a variety of quartz.

The flash of colour stands out.

A wave of dark red.

Day 6, Monday 22 February – Second visit to Gemstone Beach, Orepuki. I arrived 10 am at high tide and left 4 1/2 hours later. Decided to share the first 20 stones I picked up so you can see the diversity. The first nine were collected from the beach in front of the car park and in an area across an un-named stream to the left (facing the sea). The other 11 stones were collected at the Taunoa Stream, to the right of the car park, and a section of beach on the other side of the Taunoa Stream. More detailed information on the various sections of the beach can be found in this previous Post about another trip two years ago.

The first nine stones:

Gemstone Beach, area at the car park.

Beach area in front of car park.

The un-named stream just to the left of the car park.

Stone 1, small, the dash of colour caught my eye as I walked towards the un-named stream.

Stone 2, from the area across the un-named stream (as is Stones 3 and 4). There is usually only a scattering of stones in this area.

Stone 3, small trace fossil stone, with the trace raised above the surrounding argillite.

Stone 4, possibly argillite??

The beach in front of the car park – part of it has only a scattering of stones.

As you move towards the Taunoa Stream, thicker layers of stones appear.

Stone 5, from the beach in front of the car park (as are Stones 6 to 9), a small quartzite

Stone 6, another quartzite. Such green quartzites can be found here and there on the beach.

Stone 7, breccia.

Stone 8, has some holes but I like the vertical vein and dashes of colour.

Stone 9, probably iron-stained quartz (reasonably common) but with interesting patterns.

Stones 10 to 15 were collected at the Taunoa Stream, about 200 metres from the car park.

Taunoa Stream comes from the right and wends its way to the sea behind me. Looking west.

It is usually flat here, with the stream’s banks no higher than 30 cms. At present, however, a large bank of stones has built up to the right. A wave has just moved up the stream, making it a little deeper than usual. Normally gumboots are required to cross with comfort during cool weather.

Walking up the stream reveals lots of wet stones whose colours are clear.

Stone 10 from the Taunoa Stream.

Stone 11, another small quartzite.

Stone 12, quite small, maybe argillite, with an interesting segment that caught my eye.

Stone 13.

Stone 14. Slightly different hues of green on either side of the central vein.

Stone 15, picked up just as I was leaving the Taunoa Stream – the best of the 20, in my view. I was flabbergasted! Very gorgeous.

Detail of Stone 15.

Stones 16 to 20 were picked up as I walked from the Taunoa Stream westwards along the beach (the banks of stones stretch on for a number of kilometres):

Gemstone Beach, near the car park.

Looking west from Taunoa Stream. The Waimeamea River mouth is at the end of this line of cliffs, just over a kilometre away.

Many parts of the beach from here on have lots of stones of varying sizes.

Stone 16 lies in the middle of this photo, oblong-shaped.

Stone 16.

Stone 17. Probably volcanic in origin.

Stone 18, small but stunning.

Close-up of Stone 18.

Stone 19, deceptively ordinary until viewed closer.

Close-up of Stone 19.

Stone 20.

Gemstone Beach from the car park to the mouth of the Waimeamea River. This is the area I usually walk along when I visit. Stone 20 was found only about 1/20th along.

I continued my walk along to the mouth of the Waimeamea River and then returned to the car park, completing a walk of probably about three kilometres in all today. Here are the most interesting 10 of the other stones I discovered:

Small and delicate.

Another small but gorgeous stone.

The pink is a mineral called thulite.

Yet another amazing quartzite.

When I saw this, I thought “Wow!”

Another “Wow!”

Nice hydrogrossular garnet.

The next Post in this Series deals with Day 7 (the Back Beach, Riverton) and Day 8 (return to Gemstone Beach).

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