To mark Day Three of this second National Lockdown in New Zealand, this is a small polished rhyolite stone from Slope Point.
Slope Point is the southernmost bit of land of the South Island, New Zealand, 70 kilometres east of Invercargill. Tourists are directed to a carpark and walk across a large paddock to a well-known sign high atop cliffs. The sea and wind can be especially ferocious there.
Slope Point is an area known for rhyolites and petrified wood, and other volcanic pebbles and petrified material. Rhyolite is a volcanic rock with a high silica content (obsidian, pumice and ignimbrite are common varieties of rhyolite). Rhyolite stones can be colourful, with intricate patterns, and they often polish well. Access to a beach in the Slope Point area is not straightforward – there are many high cliffs and no road goes close to any of the small beaches. Earlier this year I made contact with a local resident and rockhound, Oliver Simpson, through the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. In March, he showed me how to get to a beach there and we spent some time fossicking for stones. I made two other visits there with Oliver in June.
This stone was among the first batch of Slope Point stones that I polished, completed only recently, with another couple of batches due to finish over the next couple of weeks.
See here for an earlier Post introducing Slope Point and its stones.
Stone of the Day #4 is here.
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