June-July 2022 Fossicking Trip: 4) Kakanui Seadown Beach, Day One

Seadown Beach is on a 5 km sweeping part of the North Otago coast. Source: http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-45.148453,170.913019&z=13

Southern end of Seadown Beach. Source: https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-45.1557733,170.9172044,902m/data=

The south end of the beach last year.

This year, sand and stones having been removed by the waves.

I made two visits to this beach today (Friday 24 June), the first in the morning for just under two hours and the second in the afternoon for a further hour. Temperatures were low again today though the sun was shining. The waves were breaking much higher up the beach than I expected, and the level of the beach at the south end has changed a lot from when I have been here before (see two photos above right). The waves have been eroding the beach. This happens from time to time, and large boulders have been placed along the back of the beach here to provide some protection for the road. More information on the beach and the area can be found in TumbleStoneTwo.

At beach level, large wave coming in.

The wave sweeps up the beach.

These rocks are usually about 3/4 covered with sand and stones but the waves have stripped them.

Some of these waves are maybe 2 to 3 metres high.

I visit this beach regularly on my fossicking trips because of the very attractive jaspers and quartzites I have found here, along with a number of other interesting stones. Today’s fossicking proved fruitful once again. Some of the jaspers I collected:

One side of a small jasper.

Other side of the small jasper.

Brecciated jasper.

Dark red jasper.

Some quartzites collected today:

And some others, including beach agates, petrified wood and some mysteries (the first one in particular is most intriguing – a member of the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils” commented on it: “Similar to a Danish Fossil Okkergelber Hornstein made up of bryozoan. Looks like hard clay but in fact chalcedony”):

Don’t know what this is…

It looks like lots of tiny fossils.

Don’t know what this.

Small beach agate.

An even smaller beach agate.

Large piece of petrified wood.

Caramel coloured stone.

I have another day to do more fossicking here tomorrow.

A shortened version of this Post first appeared in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The next Post in this Series features my second day’s fossick at Kakanui’s Seadown Beach. The first Post in this Series is here. A Series Index is here.

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