This afternoon I travelled to Slope Point, 90 minutes by car from my accommodation in Riverton Aparima. I met up there with Oliver, a fossicking buddy, and we drove to the beach near Black Point (see map below). We spent about two and a half hours on the beach in bright sunshine, with a quiet sea lazily providing gently lapping waves. This is all unusual for autumn in this area, so we made the most of the opportunity. I soon noticed that the beach was not made up of fine sand but of millions of teeny tiny stones, often in patches graded by size.
I collected some of the small pea-size stones for use in my tumbling barrels.
The past few days had seen the sea push up a good mix of stones scattered across small areas of the beach. Slope Point rhyolite stones are amazing for their complexity, mix of crystals and orbs, colourful fine veins, and tiny sections of agate. I always look forward to discovering them, on the beach and in the photos I take later. Oliver kindly gave me quite a few pebbles he came across. We fossicked mainly along the wave’s edge but later wandered further up the beach where the sea had deposited stones recently, on the high point between the sea and the lagoon in behind. The stones here were dry so harder to discern their colours and patterns, but we found enough in this area to make it well worth the effort. Generally, during the first half of the fossick, Oliver was finding four pretty stones to my one, it seemed. Later, once I adjusted my fossicking style, I started finding more – I had to get closer to the stones (bend over more often) and pause to search more carefully (moving stones around with my fingers).
One of my valued finds was this small petrified wood stone. The black and brown and white (quartz or agate) make these stones especially attractive:
Two other stones that may also be fossilised organic material:
The next stone attracted some interest when I posted it on the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. It was suggested that it looked like a “joon agate”. As Craig McGregor notes, joon agates were first identified by John Earl and Gordon Auton (“joon” is a term made by joining “jo” from the start of “John” with “on” from end of “Auton”). They found specimens of this rock in Awarua Bay, which is maybe 45 kilometres west of Slope Point. McGregor goes on to note that these stones have also been found on farmland in Tokanui (about seven kilometres inland from Slope Point), and sometimes in the Hedgehope River (further inland again). Oliver had found the stone early on in our fossick and generously handed it to me.
Oliver also found this little stone with agate in it. We both noticed the small “fortification” on one side, and the photos revealed other agate bits to me later:
Three more stones that caught my eye:
A stone with some strange seemingly disparate elements:
Five other stones that had features that also caught my eye:
The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series involves a return to Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay. The first Post in the Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.
The odd stone- which you thought was Joon agates is actually punga fern. I found a much larger piece with the exact same patterning. However it had fern eyes. I am certain this is fossil fern and the structure has just been compressed leaving these black lines against the orange/yellows.
Many thanks for your comment, Tim. I can see what you are suggesting. This is very helpful. J