FB Group Posts: 26, 27 & 30 June 2021 – Kakanui, Timaru and Ward Beach, Then Home

Facebook Group Banner, close-up of one of Malcolm Luxton’s cut agates.

This is the seventh and last Post on my June 2021 stone collecting trip to the South Island, and is also the 17th and last 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.

Saturday 26 June 2021: Featuring ten stones from my last visit to the beach near Kakanui this trip. I spent four hours there, and a bit of rain ensured wet stones for easier spotting of the colourful ones.

I collected a few colourful stones from about two metres around this spot and added them to the shot.

My last view of the beach near Kakanui.

The first five stones:

Small but interesting stone, side A.

Small but interesting stone, side B.

Bigger stone, with small circular features.

Quartzite, not a tumble-polishing candidate but I couldn’t walk past the bright colours.

The last five stones:

Small transparent stone with tiny inclusions.

Quartzite with unusual jasper-like inclusion.

Small quartzite.

Sunday 27 June 2021: My first visit to this particular section of a south Timaru Beach (at the end of Ellis Road, near Jack’s Point lighthouse). It was a cool foggy day, and I spent about three hours fossicking.

Looking north from the Ellis Road carpark.

A couple of hundred metres south of the carpark – the cliff has been eroded away and the succulents on top have been undermined.

At the base of the eroding cliffs at this point on the beach.

Looking up at the Jack’s Point lighthouse.

The scattering of stones across the lower part of the beach where I found the stones highlighted in this Post..

I looked mainly along the lower part of the beach near low tide, near the waves, where there was a scattering of stones, including quite a few interesting quartzites.

Here are seven green-coloured stones I found:

Side A of first stone.

Side B of first stone.

Ten more of the stones collected today, showing some of the diversity on this beach:

Large jasper, left on beach, just below the lighthouse. Pen and front of gumboot for scale.

Quartzite.

Monday 28 June 2021: Cold stormy day – travelled to Lincoln, had to cancel a planned visit to Birdlings Flat due to the hail and wind and freezing temperatures.

Tuesday 29 June 2021: This is the day I made a Post in the Group’s Alphabetical Series – “I” is for “Ichnogenus Protovirgularia” – not yet posted.

Wednesday 30 June 2021: Ward Beach visit today, the end of my current South Island trip (assuming I am able to catch a ferry tomorrow as planned). Ward Beach is 5 kms east of Ward which is 45 kms south of Blenheim. The geographical setting is spectacular, with steep hills behind the beach. Interesting birds often there, and seals. I managed a fossick today as the weather had improved, the temperature was around 10 to 12 degrees with little wind, and there were only a couple of rain showers. Very heavy swell at the beach so I stayed well back from the waves. Had a good look up the Flaxbourne River just to the south of the carpark.

Heavy swell today at Ward Beach.

There is often heavy swell here but today was especially so.

Ward Beach, Google Maps. P = Carpark. Most of my fossicking today was up the Flaxbourne River in the area circled in red.

Looking up the valley of the Flaxbourne River.

Wet stones.

The stones alongside the Flaxbourne River.

Seal on rocks at the mouth of the Flaxbourne River.

I was spotted by a shag.

Two herons on the river bank.

Eight of the stones collected today:

Colourful small pebble.

Red jasper with some yellow.

Zoophycos (trace fossil). Many of these at Ward Beach.

Some intense iron staining.

Here are another six stones found today:

Many of the stones here may not tumble-polish well (I will need to experiment to find out) but I enjoy the pastel colours and trace fossils. The occasional jasper can be interesting, and some of these stones are volcanic. I’d like to know more about the limestone and chert here.

[This was the end of this stone collecting trip. The ferry on Thursday was delayed a couple of hours but I made it home to Whanganui that night, having driven 3,800 kilometres, with 120 kilograms of finds with me.]

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