FB Group Posts: 21, 22 & 25 June 2021 – Final Fossicks at Gemstone Beach, and a Kakanui Beach Visit

This is the sixth Post on my June 2021 stone collecting trip to the South Island, and is also the 16th Post in the Series of my daily Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post on my June trip is the Sunday 6 June entry in this Post, and the first in the Facebook Group Series is here.

Monday 21 June 2021: Featuring eight stones from (what I thought was going to be) my last visit to Gemstone Beach this trip. Cold again but sunny and very little wind, good fossicking. Here are five of the stones:

Small dark red jasper.

One of the larger stones I collected.

Another banded argillite, nice and smooth.

Trace fossil stone with long continuous trace.

The Waimeamea River was blocked off by a build-up of stones during the last high tide so I could wander a kilometre further along the beach than previously. Here are the other three stones:

Breccia stone.

Quartz with tiny inclusions.

Near the Waimeamea River mouth, there sitting in front of me was a nice hydrogrossular garnet, one of the few I have found this trip.

It shone brightly among the other dry dull stones.

Waimeamea River blocked off from flowing to the sea. (Froth on the edge.) Walking across the stones to take this photo, I came across the hydrogrossular garnet in the previous photos.

Stones on Gemstone Beach today.

At the edge of the waves.

[Monday 21 June was also the day I made a Post in the Group’s Alphabetical Series – “H” is for “Hematite Jasper…”– see here.]

Tuesday 22 June 2021: Couldn’t resist the temptation to visit Gemstone Beach one more time before leaving tomorrow (despite scheduling today as clean-up and pack-up and load-up the car with stones). Bit of a cold breeze today but a big coat and hood did the trick. Found a few nice small-to-medium-sized hydrogrossular garnets (there have been very few up until today), and the usual colourful and interesting stones. Here are four of today’s finds:

Orbicular (poppy) jasper.

Here are another four of today’s finds:

Gemstone Beach scene today.

One of today’s hydrogrossular garnets.

Trace fossil stone, with iron staining.

And it’s finally farewell to Gemstone Beach for this fossicking trip.

Wednesday 23 June 2021 and Thursday 24 June: Travel days, no beach visits, no posts.

Friday 25 June 2021: Spent just over three hours on Kakanui’s Seadown Beach (North Otago) today. Among my finds were these beach agates and fossil sea floor stones:

Small beach agate #1, side A.

Small beach agate #1, side B.

Another small beach agate.

Fossil sea floor. These creamy-coloured stones often have tiny fossils in them.

Another fossil sea floor stone.

Fossil sea floor stone #3.

I think this is another fossil sea floor stone, slightly different in character.

I think this is also fossil sea floor, but dendritic (small mineral growths in it)

Maybe petrified wood, plus some jaspers:

Possibly petrified wood – wet.

Possibly petrified wood – dry.

Brecciated jasper.

Darker brecciated jasper.

Different coloured jasper.

Dark coloured jasper with a lot going on in it.

And some other stones from today:

Stone full of “entrances” or windows! Side A.

Stone full of “entrances” or windows! Side B.

Beach scenes from today near Kakanui:

Kakanui beach stones, from the southern end, in a small bay.

The beach near Kakanui when I arrived this morning.

Found this little guy just washed up by a wave.

The next Post in this Series is here, which is also the last Post on my June 2012 stone collecting trip to the South Island.

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