I arrived at the Gemstone Beach carpark at 9.30 this morning, just on high tide. The high tides this week have been lower than normal, so there was no trouble making my way along the beach. The changed beach profile I noted yesterday had become more pronounced, and the stones being piled up by the waves have actually created a small lagoon where the Taunoa Stream enters the sea. This small lagoon is over one metre deep in places. Again the day was cool, it being 5 degrees when I arrived, but again it was sunny and the absence of wind made for a pleasant fossick. Before leaving the carpark beach area, I had a good chat with an Australian visitor, who had read parts of this blog at some stage. He was interested in aspects of lapidary, especially faceting, and had visited at least a couple other New Zealand beaches, including Birdlings Flat.
I followed the same trail as yesterday, making my way from the carpark to the Waimeamea River mouth. I then walked up the inland side of the Waimeamea River lagoon before crossing it to fossick further west. I walked further than yesterday before turning back. Soon after I turned around, I met up with a local who does some gold mining on the beach. We had a chat and I patted his small dog. When I got back to the carpark, I had a chat with a couple of people who were new to the beach. They had a copy of a local stone identification poster, that can be bought from the Riverton museum. It was about 1.40 pm when I drove away.
Below is a selection of 12 stones collected today. The two most obviously interesting are a chunky jasper (more spherical than flat, but a bit munted) and a shiny banded argillite.
Four other jaspers I found today included three orbicular or poppy jaspers and one tiny one with particularly intense red and white.
Four other finds illustrate the great variation of stone colours and patterns to be found along this stretch of beach.
Finally, I found two stones today that are not really candidates for tumble polishing because the small mineral spots in them will not likely survive it. However, they are really interesting and unusual stones with bright minerals in them.
The weather is due to become wet so I may not embark upon another fossick for at least a day or two.
Post 34 describes a fossick on Gemstone Beach with two fellow fossickers from the Hawkes Bay. The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.
