The autumn weather stayed fine for another day today. I arrived at Gemstone Beach just after high tide at 10 am, when it was partly cloudy and 18 degrees. I left about three and a half hours later, when it was 19 degrees.
I walked west and eventually crossed the Waimeamea lagoon to fossick for a while on the other side of the river.
I collected a good range of stones, many of them colourful and/or patterned. Ten of them are featured below. The first two are small stones with “inclusions”, the first 4 cm long, the second 2.5 cm long:
A gorgeous green and white stone with some kind of orbs:
Three more stones illustrating the variation I found:
The next two stones include a yellow one with dark veins, and what I first thought was granite but has elongated crystals I don’t associate with this type of rock:
The granite-like stone (above) will be difficult to tumble polish as it has a rough texture and the dark components won’t take a shine. But I like how it looks and will give it a go.
It was on the other side of the Waimeamea River, and that I found this relatively large hydrogrossular garnet (6.5 cm at its longest – see below). I initially thought it was argillite, mainly because of its spots. Spots are unusual in a garnet. However, close visual and haptic (touch) inspection confirmed it to be hydrogrossular.
Right next door to the large garnet (maybe 20 cm away) was a small hematite jasper, one side of which had some orbs.
The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series features another hydrogrossular garnet find. The first Post in the Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.
Oh my what beauties you have there!! You know those green ones just make me go ahhhhh – but I also love that black and white one!!
I agree!
Thanks John, I don’t get sick of seeing your posts, next best thing to being there! BTW if you ever decide to come across the ditch to Australia let me know, I’ve managed to use the last few years to identify a few beaches worth visiting that I can share. None as good as Gemstone Beach though!
Hi Brett, often see your responses pop up. Not likely to get to Australia but will certainly contact you if I do. J