Month: April 2023

Post 55

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

This morning I made my last fossick at Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay for this trip. It was another gorgeous Southland day, warm and sunny. I walked my usual patch of beach, from the Gemstone Beach carpark to the cliffs where the Waimeamea River comes out at the coast. I was able to ford the river today, only just. After turning around, I met Christine Thompson, a member of the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”, who was visiting the beach from Otago. It was great to have a good chat with her and gather my strength for the final leg of the fossick.

The most interesting find of the fossick happened about 50 metres before I met Christine. Up until then, there had hardly been any hydrogrossular garnets to be found, with only one small translucent one in my bag. Then pretty much on the last leg of the fossick, I saw this stone sticking out of the sand and small pebbles, a rough-surfaced hydrogrossular garnet:

This type of garnet is among the rarest on Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay (see the” seventh type” in this Post) and this size (5 cm by 3.5 cm by 1.25 cm) is also uncommon these days. [In 2026, I tested the specific gravity of this stone which ruled out chalcedony and supported the idea it is hydrogrossular garnet.]

The next stone is stunning – for the colours within what were once tiny gas bubble holes:

Other side of stone.

Sought-after stones on this beach include the intense greens and the hematite jaspers. Today I found very good specimens of both, as shown by these two:

I nearly didn’t keep this next stone. It looked largely featureless except for some tiny “dots” that I couldn’t make out on the beach. I decided to put it in the bag and photograph it back at my accommodation so I could get a closer-up view:

It looks like there are tiny structures there, similar to the orbs I found in a stone on this beach on Thursday – see this Post.

The final three stones include a small white breccia, a blue-hued pebble, and a small banded stone:

So it’s “Good-bye for now” to Gemstone Beach. I drive to Kakanui tomorrow.

The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 54

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

My second-last fossick at Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay for this trip took place today. It was another fine sunny windless Southland autumn day. I met up with Chrissy from The Cliffs at 9.30 am and we spent a few hours fossicking, initially working westwards from the Gemstone Beach carpark and along a long cliff-shaded section. We turned back when we reached the cliffs at the point where the Waimeamea River arrives at the coast, at the start of its lagoon. Chrissy demonstrated her newly-gained competence at identifying hydrogrossular garnets and probably found more than I did. At one point, the local gold miner called out to me from the opposite bank of the river and kindly threw a nice dark hydrogrossular garnet across it (heart in mouth that it didn’t fall short, and that I could find it once it landed). He knows my interest in such stones – I see him and his fox terrier on the beach most days and have chatted to him a couple of times.

Looking back towards the carpark, view of the shaded section of the beach.

The stretch of beach we fossicked. You can see the section shaded by cliffs just along from Gemstone Beach. Source = Google Maps.

Looking west towards the Waimeamea River. The gold miner is there, just right of centre, on the other side of the river.

There seemed to be fewer reds on the beach, though we still found at least a couple of poppy jaspers each. The “baker’s dozen” (13) of my finds from today starts off with two poppy jaspers:

Small poppy jasper (2 cm) with interesting orbs.

Other side of small poppy jasper.

Another poppy jasper (3 cm long) but with smaller orbs.

Other side of stone.

A complex volcanic stone whose yellow veins caught my eye, along with the stress fractures in it:

One side of stone.

Other side of stone.

The fourth stone looks like it is on the way to being orbed but didn’t quite get there. There are tiny orange crystals or infilled holes which, along with some white quartz areas, brighten it up:

One side of stone.

Another side of the stone.

Another one with sort-of-orbs in it:

One side of stone.

Other side of stone.

The orange and white in the sixth stone caught my eye, along with the tiny details I could discern on the beach:

One side of the stone.

Turning the stone slightly towards the edge.

Two very different light-coloured stones, one a brecciated quartz, the other a stone with layers of clouds of some mineral:

Brecciated quartz?

Layers of clouds of mineral!

Two different types of “speckled” stone:

The final three stones are hydrogrossular garnets, two of them being pale coloured and partly translucent, the third, of a darker hue, being the one kindly thrown to me across the river by the gold miner.

Three waxy hydrogrossular ganets.

This is the one tossed to me by the gold miner.

The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 53

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

I arrived at Gemstone Beach this morning to the sight of another vehicle stuck in soft sand, although the driver managed to get it out soon after by the judicious use of driftwood under the wheels. At 11 am I met up with Raelene Inglis, a member of the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. She had contacted me as she was going to visit Gemstone Beach today. She had also read a number of my blog posts about fossicking beaches in the South Island and had recently visited Seadown Beach at Kakanui. The tide was low and the weather was good, and we spent some time walking along the beach and discussing stones such as hydrogrossular garnets and argillite.

The vehicle stuck in the sand when I arrived this morning.

The aftermath.

Raelene is the fossicker nearest the camera here.

Gemstone Beach, Te Waewae Bay, this morning. Looking west.

Looking east. In the far distance are….

….green bales of silage on farmland.

The bank of stones in front of the Waimeamea Lagoon. Made steeper by the waves recently.

I then proceeded alone past the Waimeamea River, using the lagoon crossing. The bank of stones on the west side of the river, in front of the lagoon, has been made noticeably steeper by the waves over the past few days, and there was more sand and slightly fewer stones at the waves’ edge (see photo above). After turning around and making the lagoon crossing again, I met Chrissy from The Cliffs and we fossicked our way back to the carpark. All in all, I spent nearly five hours on the beach searching for stones to tumble polish, and arrived back at my accommodation with one of my larger hauls of finds this year. It proved difficult to select the 15 stones that feature in this Post because so many of my finds were interesting.

On the beach, I couldn’t really see what the tiny features in this stone were, though I knew there was a possibility they would be interesting. I now think this is orbicular rhyolite – I found one a few days ago at Slope Point with larger orbs.

This is a small (2.5 cm long) amygdaloidal stone, a volcanic stone with small gas bubbles which were then infilled by some minerals. The shapes of the amygdales and the colour of the infill make for a gorgeous little pebble:

The third stone is a brecciated one, caramel and cream (4 cm long):

I found another nice small pink thulite (2 cm long) as well as a slightly larger intense pink/purple stone, maybe thulite as well:

Small thulite.

Other side of small thulite.

Stone with more intense pink/purple.

Other side of stone.

Three different breccia stones, two of them with breccia in veins:

Top of breccia stone.

Side of breccia stone.

Bottom of breccia stone.

Breccia in vein.

Other side of stone.

Another brecciated vein.

Other side of stone.

Some of the stones above have green in them, mostly due to the presence of epidote. The ninth and tenth stones are two more “greenies”, both intensely coloured:

Intense green eoidote throughout, plus white specks.

Wavy vein of intense green epidote.

Two stones that I think have a volcanic origin:

Brown volcanic stone.

Interesting grey/white, with crystals.

Other side of stone, darker hue.

The final three stones are: an interesting kind of trace fossil stone – maybe banded argillite; a stone that I thought was volcanic but it could be made of brecciated fragments and be metamorphic; and a stone with what looks like a layer of iron oxide on top:

Trace fossil in a kind of banded argillite.

Brecciated fragments? Or crystals?

Iron oxide “vein”.

This will be my third last fossick at Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay for this trip.

The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 52

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

After two days of wind and rain kept me indoors, I returned to Gemstone Beach (Southland) this morning. It was nine degrees when I arrived, an onshore wind was blowing, and the occasional shower of rain came across. While I was there, the odd handful of passing motorists stopped off and ventured briefly onto the beach. I expected the Taunoa Stream to be too deep to ford but it wasn’t, though it was higher and flowing swiftly. There seemed to be more sand on the beach than before the stormy weather, but the stirring of the stones had thrown up a few small hydrogrossular garnets.

Gemstone Beach in front of the carpark this morning.

Looking towards the Taunoa Stream.

The Taunoa Stream this morning.

The Taunoa Stream.

Looking towards the Waimeamea River in the distance.

The Waimeamea River had once again broken through to the sea so I turned back at that point. I climbed over a fresh section of driftwood at the back of the beach to climb up the cliff to take photos of the river mouth. Doing so, I found an interesting piece of driftwood (see photos below).

The Waimeamea River flowing to the sea.

The Waimeamea River from beach level.

The Waimeamea River from the other side of the lagoon.

Fresh driftwood at the back of the beach.

Interesting piece of driftwood.

I was very selective in my fossicking but did collect some small jaspers. I knew that a couple of them were poppy jaspers (orbicular) but was unsure about the others. In the afternoon, back at my accommodation, I was able to do some photographing of stones during a number of very brief periods of sunlight. Some of the photos have reflections in them when the light conditions deteriorated. But they show the orbicular of some as well as one that contained tiny areas of agate. The most interesting jasper was the smallest one, only 1.5 cm long. It’s the one that turned out to have some agate in it:

Tiny jasper.

Another side of the tiny jasper.

Another side.

A fourth side, much lighter in colour.

This was the jasper that I recognised on the beach as being patterned, but I couldn’t decide if it was brecciated or orbicular (it’s 4 cm long):

Other side of stone.

It’s probably orbicular. This next jasper (also 4 cm long) has a very rough surface but had a nice intense colour. The photos revealed it was made up of masses of tiny orbs:

Other side of stone.

Another small jasper (2.5 cm long) that turned out to have many tiny orbs:

Other side of stone.

Six of the other stones I collected this morning:

Green epidote in quartzite.

Nice grey bands.

Gorgeous white quartzite.

Breccia of some kind.

Type of iron stained quartz.

Some brecciation here.

The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 51

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

When I arrived at Gemstone Beach (Southland) this morning at low tide, there was a vehicle bogged down in the streambed of the Taunoa Stream. It needed to be towed out, something that happened when I was well down the beach towards the Waimeamea River.

This vehicle was stuck in unconsolidated gravel in the bed of the Taunoa Stream.

Photo of the rescue, taken when I was some distance away.

Aftermath in the soft sand on the beach in front of the carpark.

I discovered that the river was blocked off by stones piled up by the sea, the first time this has happened in a number of weeks. The lagoon level had risen, and a number of “seepages” had developed – water seeping through the bank of stones holding back the lagoon. If a seepage lengthens enough, the lagoon can break through to the sea, creating a new river mouth. More often, the high tide dumps more stones on the seepage, filling it up with stones again.

Today, the Waimeamea River blocked off from the sea.

Previously, the river flowed like this. Photo taken 10 days ago.

The lagoon level today.

Water seeping through the stones in front of the lagoon.

Below are eight “quirky” stones I found today, ones that I find to be odd or unusual or surprising.

I posted them in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”, asking people to indicate their favourite. Quite a few commented that it was a difficult choice but two days after posting, 31 votes had been cast. The following were the results, most popular stone first: #2 = 13 votes; #1 and #6 = 6 votes each; #7 =5 votes; #5 = 1 vote.

Below are 12 other “quirky” stones that I had collected today but whittled out in order to get the options down to eight. They include, at the end, some of the very small stones I am collecting to include in my tumbler barrels to assist with the polishing process. I select these stones individually from the beach – I find they include tiny versions of the larger stones that can be seen there:

Trace fossil stone.

Hydrogrossular garnet.

Some of the very small stones I am collecting for use in the tumbler.

The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 49

Post 50 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/southern-sojourn-202350-an-orbicular-rhyolite-and-a-large-piece-of-petrified-wood-a-return-to-slope-point-saturday-22-april/

Post 51 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/southern-sojourn-202351-a-bunch-of-quirky-stones-from-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-sunday-23-april/

Post 1

Post 2

I have been thinking for some time about writing a Blog Post somewhat along the lines of “The Stones of Gemstone Beach, An Introduction for the Passing Motorist”. I think that a lot of people see the name “Gemstone Beach” and have high expectations for finding something valuable or spectacular when they get there. I think that they can quickly become frustrated or bewildered when that doesn’t happen. It would be useful to explain to people that a careful examination of what looks like ordinary stones can actually lead to the discovery of some very interesting colours, patterns, and shapes. So I decided to spend a couple of hours this afternoon taking photos of the stones not far from the carpark on Gemstone Beach.

I went to the edge of the Taunoa Stream and searched a ten metre stretch for stones of different colours and patterns. I picked up quite a few stones, photographed them and then put most of them back down – I did keep maybe a dozen that I wanted to tumble polish. The tide was high and waves were occasionally pulsing up the stream, conveniently extending the area of wet stones for me to explore. I worked hard to suppress my desire to pick up only smooth pretty stones, and mainly succeeded.

Looking west, dying waves almost reaching the cliff.

High tide today.

Waves coming over the beach and into the Taunoa Stream.

Here are 12 of the stones that I found in this small stretch of the beach:

And another 12:

Two more stones, the first an interesting “two-sider” (each side is different), the second being found on my walk back to the carpark, a poppy jasper:

Other side of stone.

Poppy jasper.

Other side of poppy jasper.

Post 50 features a fossick at Slope Point and the find of a large piece of petrified wood. The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 48

Post 49 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/southern-sojourn-202349-photographing-whats-there-gemstone-beach-friday-21-april/

Post 50 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/southern-sojourn-202350-an-orbicular-rhyolite-and-a-large-piece-of-petrified-wood-a-return-to-slope-point-saturday-22-april/

Post 51 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/southern-sojourn-202351-a-bunch-of-quirky-stones-from-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-sunday-23-april/

Post 1

I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 9.20 am today, a sunny warm morning, seeking more stones for tumble polishing. There was only one other vehicle in the carpark – its occupants were on the beach but about to leave, one of them carrying what looked like a heavy bucket. We got talking, and they turned out to be Helene and Steve from Auckland, Helene being a member of the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. They were really enjoying exploring the stones on Gemstone Beach. One change on the beach in front of the carpark was the presence of a dozen or so large cobbles (see photo below). These have not been there over the past three months. I don’t know whether the sea had brought them in or whether sand had been removed to uncover them.

The beach in front of the carpark this morning, with some unfamiliar larger stones.

Helene and Steve leaving the beach.

Much of the stretch to the Waimeamea River was in shade from the cliffs.

The waves meeting the Waimeamea River.

I walked to the Waimeamea River again, much of the beach west of the Taunoa Stream being in the shade of the cliffs at this time of the morning. I worked hard at being selective in what I collected – I have just packed up some stones to courier home to Whanganui and there’s still plenty to pack into my car when I leave Southland at the end of this month. I was only partly successful in restraining my collecting as I keep finding amazing little stones. I ended up with maybe one-third of what I have usually collected recently. The tide was coming in, so I didn’t stick around too long, eventually leaving the beach two hours after I arrived.

Ten stones are featured in this Post, nine that I collected and one that I left on the beach. Today’s MVP (Most Valued Pebble) is a small stone with bright white patches and very fine lacy brown veins of mineral.

4 cm long.

Other side of stone.

What tumbling will do to the fine lines in this stone I don’t know – I will likely begin it in a fine grit.

The next stone, only 3.5 cm long, is a breccia with tiny fragments, even with some sorting by size especially on the second side shown below:

The first of the next two stones is maybe amygdaloidal – a volcanic stone with infilled holes – while the second is probably rhyolite.

4.5 cm long.

Rhyolite, 2.5 cm long.

Two different kinds of breccia, stones composed of small sharp fragments cemented together in a fine-grained matrix:

5 cm long breccia.

5 cm long breccia.

This beach contains quite a few green quartzite stones and lots of small dark-red coloured stones, some of which are jasper, some being volcanic stones:

Green quartzite.

Other side of green quartzite.

Small dark-red stone.

A different small dark-red stone.

A stone that I found on the beach but was too big for tumble polishing was worth recording because of the trace fossils in it as well as a light-coloured vein with brecciations:

Probably argillite, a mudstone.

Three of the largest trace fossils in it are circled.

The brecciated vein, with one of the trace fossils lying along it.

One of the trace fossils is at right, above the light-coloured vein.

Post 49 is entitled “Photographing What’s There” at Gemstone Beach. The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Post 47

Post 48 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/20/southern-sojourn-202348-a-selective-two-hour-fossick-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-thursday-20-april/

Post 49 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/southern-sojourn-202349-photographing-whats-there-gemstone-beach-friday-21-april/

Post 50 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/southern-sojourn-202350-an-orbicular-rhyolite-and-a-large-piece-of-petrified-wood-a-return-to-slope-point-saturday-22-april/

Post 51 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/southern-sojourn-202351-a-bunch-of-quirky-stones-from-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-sunday-23-april/

Today, after a front had moved through overnight, the Te Waewae Bay waves were larger, had more energy, were moving up the beach a little further, and the tide was ebbing more slowly. That meant more stones were being wet further up the beach and staying wet for longer. The morning had been rainy but the afternoon was ideal for fossicking, sunny and warm, with very little wind.

Bigger waves today.

The three people running in the surf were wearing wetsuits.

Wave flowing into Taunoa Stream

Tiny stones on the beach.

Larger pebbles on the beach.

MVP – Most Valued Pebble – today was found on the bank of the Waimeamea River. The river was too high and swift to ford, and the lagoon level was at least half a metre too high. As I approached the river, I spotted a very shiny wet stone lying largely by itself. It was immediately recognisable as a hydrogrossular garnet. I took photos of it and snatched it just before a wave reached it. It is 4.5 cm at its longest, a nice size and colour:

On the bank of the Waimeamea River.

The hydrogrossular garnet.

One side of the hydrogrossular garnet, wet.

Other side of the hydrogrossular garnet, dry.

With a torch behind it.

The selected seven runners-up today are also all remarkable stones in their own right. The first, about the same size as the MVP, is a bit of a mystery to me, I’m not sure what the myriad of markings in it are. [It has been suggested by a reliable source that this could be fossilised forest floor]:

Another complex mystery:

Other side of stone.

Three green stones, of varying hue and composition:

Finally, two small stones, 2.5 cm and 2 cm respectively:

Post 48 is here. The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.