I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 9.30 this morning, when the temperature was six degrees. A cold front had moved across overnight, and snow was on the tops of the mountains of eastern Fiordland. But it was sunny and there was no wind so, dressed warmly, I had a comfortable three hour fossick. When I left, the temperature had risen to today’s high of 11 degrees. I have started to collect some very small stones to use in my tumble polishers, to experiment with as an alternative to plastic pellets. I felt I didn’t make any significant larger stone finds today, but I found a few interesting ones, as revealed in the photos below of eight of them.
This small hematite jasper was a good find:
Among the other finds was this jasper and two stones that I think are likely to be quartzites:
I take this next one to be a brecciated stone – fascinating shapes and colours:
Here are the last three of today’s featured finds, the final one being a gorgeous small (3 cm long) orbicular or poppy jasper:
In the next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series, I describe an alternative to getting onto the other side of the Waimeamea River, after I stumbled upon a shallow part of the river’s lagoon. The first Post in the Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.
5 thoughts on “Southern Sojourn 2023(31): Eight Stones Found on a Cold Day on Gemstone Beach, Wednesday 29 March”