Gemstone Beach is located on the long sweeping coast of Te Waewae Bay, Foveaux Strait, Southland (see photos above). According to Wikiwand, the Bay is 27 kms in length. It stretches from Monkey Island in the southeast (the location of a freedom camping site) to its far end (beyond the start of the Hump Ridge Track) in the northwest. Interesting stones can be found especially in the middle part of the Bay’s coast, but take care! Swimming is discouraged along most of the beach because of the power of the waves, and the cliffs backing the beach pose at least two dangers – they are prone to slumping, and can trap people when the tide is high.
There are seven main sections to the Te Waewae Bay coast, from the stone fossicker’s point of view (see photo, below left). Section One runs from Monkey Island to the small town of Orepuki near which Gemstone Beach can be found (see photos below, second from left and centre). This six and a half kilometre stretch is primarily sand. It is not until you reach Gemstone Beach that significant amounts of stones are encountered.
Section Two is a 200 metre stretch of beach in front of the Gemstone Beach carpark, running to the Taunoa Stream in the west (see photo above, second from right). The road sign on State Highway 99 that points to Gemstone Beach shows the way to the carpark. (Note that there is a sign to “The Beach” at the eastern entrance to Orepuki – if coming from that direction, you need to drive through the small town and travel another 300 metres or so before you get to the Gemstone Beach sign.) The beach right in front of the carpark sometimes contains a lot of stones but other times can be mainly sand. Interesting stones can be found here, including jasper, quartz, trace fossil stones and even, on rare occasions, hydrogrossular garnets. This is always the most crowded part of the beach. Passing motorists often stop to check out what “Gemstone Beach” looks like and they wander onto the beach without venturing very far. Most of these visitors turn back at the Taunoa Stream, if they reach it.
The Taunoa Stream itself is always worth searching – the stream’s current moves sand away from the underlying stones.
Section Three of the Te Waewae Bay coast runs from Gemstone Beach to the mouth of the Waimeamea River, a distance of about 1.5 kilometres (see photo below, far left). If you walk 300 to 400 metres to the right from the carpark, in a westerly direction, past the Taunoa Stream, the stones become more frequent on the cliff-backed beach (see this Post for some details). Then large banks of stones are encountered, running all the way to the mouth of the Waimeamea River.
This stretch of the beach is the main fossicking area for stone enthusiasts. On most of my visits, I usually spend about three hours walking from the carpark down to the Waimeamea River mouth and back. A wide range of stones, most of them smooth, are constantly moved up and down the beach by the waves. For example, although, in my experience, hydrogrossular garnets can be found anywhere between the carpark and McCracken’s Rest, there seem to be two or three areas between the Taunoa Stream and the Waimeamea River mouth where they are sometimes more frequent. See this Post for an account of the stones I found along this stretch during five winter fossicking days in 2020.
At times the Waimeamea River is blocked off from the sea by high banks of stones piled up by the powerful waves – a lagoon in behind the stones is formed, which can stretch for 500 metres, and water seeps out under and through the stones. These seepages cause shallow holes in the stone surface and they progressively eat back into the bank (see photos below). This can lead to the river breaking through to the sea. If the river is flowing across the beach, it presents a significant challenge to ford and much care must be taken. After a period of rain, the river can be too high and fast-flowing to cross. Much care needs to be taken when fossicking along the bottom of the high banks of stones in this area. Especially with an incoming tide, the rushing waves can catch you unawares and it can be difficult to escape up the bank in time.
Section Four of the Te Waewae Bay coast runs from the Waimeamea River mouth to McCracken’s Rest (see photo, below left).
McCracken’s Rest is a lookout and rest area, with information panels, perched on the edge of a cliff with commanding views of Te Waewae Bay. It is the first access point to the coast, west of Gemstone Beach, from State Highway 99. There is no formal way down to the beach but people have been known to negotiate the electric fence and steep slope, especially to go to hunt for stones.
From the Waimeamea River mouth to McCracken’s Rest is a distance of about five and a half kilometres. I have walked a kilometre or two at each end of this section but not all of it. It consists mainly of large banks of stones at the Waimeamea River end which, by the time McCracken’s Rest is reached, thins out to more sand and fewer stones. There are always stones up along the back of the beach but more sandy patches appear closer to the waves. Some of the stones are larger here than in the previous sections of the coast and maybe a little less smooth. The first part of “Visiting the Beach at McCracken’s Rest near Orepuki” is a TumbleStone post about this area and its stones. Also see the entries for “Day 11, Saturday 27 February” [2021] in this Post and “Monday 14 June 2021” in this Post for more examples of stones found near McCracken’s Rest, including quartzite, thulite, porphyry and trace fossil stones.
Section Five of the Te Waewae Bay coast runs from McCracken’s Rest to the mouth (and lagoon) of the Waiau River, again just over five and a half kilometres (see photo above, left). The Waiau River has most likely been the source of at least most of the stones that end up on Gemstone Beach. The river begins as the outflow from Lake Te Anau which itself is fed by a number of other rivers and streams, the two largest being the Eglinton and Clinton Rivers. The Upper Waiau River flows from Lake Te Anau into Lake Manapouri, 10 kilometres to the south, and from there the Lower Waiau flows further southwards for 70 kilometres before reaching Te Waewae Bay on Foveaux Strait. Water from Lake Monowai also flows into the Lower Waiau River, via the short Monowai River, about 20 kilometres south of Lake Manapouri. Lakes Te Anau, Manapouri and Monowai all originated from glacial action, being left behind as glaciers melted and receded. I have walked most of the way from McCracken’s Rest to the start of the Waiau River lagoon (Te Waewae Lagoon) (see the last half of this Post). The beach is a mix of sand and drifts of stones, with the stones lying higher up the beach than in Sections Three and Four. The stones here include many of the types that are found between Gemstone Beach and the Waimeamea River mouth but are generally fewer and of lower quality, in my experience. Fishing Camp Road turns off State Highway 99 and goes down to the Te Waewae lagoon, but there appears to be no easy access from there to the stones on the ocean-side of the lagoon.
Section Six of the Te Waewae Bay coast runs eight and a half kilometres from the mouth (and lagoon) of the Waiau River to Bluecliffs Beach. By road, the distance is just under 30 kilometres as it is necessary to drive north to Tuatapere to cross the Waiau River by bridge. I have not walked this section of the coast, but have visited Bluecliffs Beach a couple of times. The bush-backed beach, its isolation and its more powerful waves give it a “wilder” feel. The stones on this beach are also somewhat different from those to the east of the Waiau River mouth. There is a lot of quartz and granite, and the stones, while smooth, are generally bigger. There is also a lot of sandstone with fossils in it, especially shell fossils. This has led to the beach appearing in “The Kiwi Fossil Hunter’s Handbook” by James Crampton and Marianna Terezow (2010), in the final of their 27 locations, under the title of “Te Waewae Bay”.
Bluecliffs Beach appears twice in this Post, in the comments on Stone #5, Place F (about halfway through the Post) and at the end.
From Bluecliffs Beach to the far western end of the straightish sweep of the Te Waewae Bay coast is a distance of nine kilometres. I have only ventured maybe 300 or 400 metres along this stretch so have no information on its stones.
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