Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 11 and 12 (McCracken’s Rest, Gemstone Beach)

The first Post in this Series is here.

Day 11, Saturday 27 February – This afternoon I spent four hours on the Te Waewae Bay beach, accessed from the lookout at McCracken’s Rest, a small off-road parking area eight kilometres west of Gemstone Beach (Orepuki). The coastline of Te Waewae Bay is 27 kilometres long, with Gemstone Beach near the eastern end.

Te Waewae Bay on Foveaux Strait. Source: Google Maps.

Sign post at McCracken’s Rest.

The red pointer is Grindstone Creek – I walked from McCracken’s Rest to about 400 metres past the Creek’s outlet on the beach. Source: Google Maps.

Pointer is at Grindstone Creek. I walked to the point marked by the black cross (lower right). Source: Google Maps.

Part of an Information Panel at McCracken’s Rest.

There are a number of excellent information panels at McCracken’s Rest.

From McCracken’s Rest I walked east for about two kilometres. The beach is largely a continuation of Gemstone Beach, with many of the stones similar. However, there is a little less diversity and a few more bigger stones. The key to a successful fossick on the beach at McCracken’s Rest is timing – most of the stones are high up the beach and in order to see them wet, you need to be there close to high tide. I recommend the period from about 30 to 60 minutes before high tide through to two hours after. Furthermore, take care! The waves are powerful. This is not a swimming beach. Don’t get caught by a wave. Note: Beach access is difficult at McCracken’s Rest, you have to climb over a fence and go down a steep slope.

Looking back up at the McCracken’s Rest lookout from the beach.

Looking east. Gemstone Beach is right in the left distance, 7 kms away. In the distance (centre) is Pahia Hill.

Looking west, towards the Fiordland mountains.

The waves are powerful – you need to be very careful not to get caught by one.

Stones get kicked up by the waves as they hit the beach.

As the tide gets lower, the stones (left) become dry and dull-looking. The lower part of the beach consists of tiny stones.

Grindstone Creek. I turned around about 400 metres past here.

I collected a range of interesting stones east of McCracken’s Rest. Here are four of the smaller ones:

I also found some more pink thulite stones, both small and large:

A large pink stone – it’s about 15 cms in length. I left it on the beach, far too big for me to tumble polish and too heavy to add to my backpack.

Close-up of large pink stone.

Very small pink stone.

Close-up of very small pink stone.

The big and the small.

A dry pink stone – quite big but as I found it near the end of my walk, I decided to keep it. Next photo is of the same stone wet.

The previous stone, but wet. Very pink. Thulite, with the pink caused by the presence of manganese.

Close-up of previous stone.

A few more stones collected from the beach near McCracken’s Rest:

I found a slightly smaller bright purple stone like this yesterday. This one is even better.

Volcanic? Often these stones are chipped or a fragment has fallen out. This stone is is excellent condition.

I am always attracted to stones with veins like this.

The flash of red caught my eye. My backpack was heavy at this stage and I decided to leave this one on the beach.

Nicely shaped trace fossil stone, unusual colour.

Day 12, Sunday 28 February – Gemstone Beach visit again. Arrived at high tide this afternoon and spent three hours on the beach. Weather was partly cloudy and warm. The waves were lapping the cliffs when I got there so I spent the first 40 minutes on the beach in front of the car park and near the Taunoa Stream.

High tide. Standing a couple of hundred metres west of the carpark, looking at where the Taunoa Stream crosses the beach.

The same part of the beach three hours after high tide.

There were a few other people on the beach. I spoke for a while with a couple from Manapouri who were very interested in the stones on the beach, and another couple from Tauranga who were fossicking for hydrogrossular garnets. I found some more gorgeous stones today, some of them in or near the Taunoa Stream. Here are the two outstanding finds of the day:

Five more of today’s finds:

Gorgeous small jasper.

Small complex-patterned stone.

Small banded ignimbrite.

And the last four of the selection of my finds today:

The inclusion, left centre, caught my eye. See next photo.

Another fascinating small stone.

Small jasper, side a.

Small jasper, side b.

The next Post in this Series describes visits to Gemstone Beach (again!) and to the Beach Past the Back Beach (Riverton).

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