When I got to the Waimeamea Lagoon on Te Waewae Bay this morning, I found the river mouth had migrated further east than yesterday. The sea had been active in piling up stones, forcing the change. The effects of an active sea had been evident when I arrived at Gemstone Beach. Immediately in front of the carpark, the beach profile was different from yesterday. Stones had been thrown up to form a small low ridge, the waves flowing over it down onto the other side.
As well, many more stones were on the surface along this short stretch of beach today, between the carpark and the Taunoa Stream. It looks like the waves have either removed sand and/or piled up stones here.
I arrived about 9.20 am, just under an hour after high tide – it was five degrees but sunny and windless. The cliffs on the other side of the Taunoa Stream cast shade on the beach there, making fossicking difficult. The cliffs lower as the Waimeamea River gets close, casting sunshine on the stones. The Waimeamea River was again too deep to ford. The changes wrought overnight by the sea had widened the lagoon just prior to where the river flowed across the beach. Swallows were chasing insects across the surface. I noticed that the lagoon level was low enough for me to make my way carefully along the inland side of the lagoon, under the (reasonably stable) cliff.
About 300 metres along my careful lagoon-side walk, I noticed way ahead some ripples, indicative of shallow water. I was able to cross the lagoon at that point.
Crossing the lagoon, and on the way back, I kept my eye open for interesting stones in the water. Two I noticed were too big to tumble polish so I took photos and left them there. On the way back, I found a nice hematite jasper, very similar to the one I found yesterday.
Once on the other side of the lagoon, I was able to scramble up the steep bank of stones to the sea, to continue my beach fossicking there. With that lagoonside adventure, my fossick on the beach today lasted three and a half hours. A further ten of my finds are featured below.
The first stone, one of the largest I collected today (7 cm long), reminds me of a gray breccia I found two weeks ago. I really like its colours and patterns.
The second stone is an unusual one, with circles on one side. The third is a nice small rhyolite.
Three further stones include a small green one, an interesting speckled one, and a type of quartz that I sometimes call sugar quartz.
I also collected this rhyolite stone and small jasper:
Finally, I found a dark red stone with tiny yellow spots and another intense green stone with interesting patterns:
The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series outlines a similar fossick on this beach. The first Post in the Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.
Ooooooh I love the look of that gray breccia – can’t wait to see what polishing does to it!
Wasn’t it a lovely day despite the cooler temperature?
Yes, the cool temperature isn’t a problem when it’s sunny and without wind.