Forty-Five Gemstone Beach Tumble Stones Travelling to the Pacific

“The Stones” is the name we have given to our AirBnB apartment, a one-bedroom unit with kitchenette and small lounge, located on the end of our garage. It overlooks the horses grazing in the paddocks under the tall pine trees, the ocean a kilometre away on the horizon. I have a couple of plates of polished stones in the apartment, along with my two photobooks, “The 33 Stones of the Lockdown 2020” and “The Trace Fossil Stones of Gemstone Beach”. Occasionally guests want to know more about the stones, or even purchase some.

Our new double garage, November 2020, with the apartment on the end nearest the trees.

The apartment entrance, Winter 2023.

The outlook. Winter 2023.

Fluffy the cat on the stone-embedded concrete.

Includes stones from various South Island beaches.

The lounge of the apartment.

My two photo books and some polished stones.

At the beginning of this year, one guest bought a number of stones and then emailed me in April to buy some more. She said she was going to be travelling to one of the Pacific nations in mid-May to deliver training sessions to help people address important family social issues. “I like to stop throughout my workshop deliveries and give time for participants to reflect, and I like to give them a small gift as a reminder of what we are talking about, and how valuable each person is. My hope is to be able to give them a stone from Aotearoa NZ as a reminder of their value, uniqueness and preciousness every time they look at it.” She wanted to purchase 20 small polished stones, 20 medium-sized ones and five larger ones. I waited until I returned home from my Southern Sojourn fossicking trip in early May to select some tumble-polished Gemstone Beach (Southland) stones that I thought would be appropriate. I charged a low price for the stones, given the important work they would be part of, and I couriered them to her before she left for her trip to the Pacific.

The small stones:

The small stones. $1 coin for scale.

The medium-sized stones:

The medium-sized stones. $1 coin for scale.

The larger stones:

The larger stones.

The email I got upon the successful delivery of the stones: “The stones arrived today. They are so special. Thank you for the time you took, to collect them from the beach, tumble them and select them from your stocks. Each one is so stunningly beautiful. It will be such a special thing to pass them on to the people I am working with.” I am pleased these stones will play such a role beyond these shores.

Author: tumblestoneblog

Retired Academic, male, living in the New Zealand countryside near Whanganui with his wife as well as Jasper the dog, Fluffy the cat, Dancer and Penny, the horses, and a shed half-full of stones. Email john.tumblestone@gmail.com. View all posts by tumblestoneblog