Month: March 2024

I arrived at a crowded Gemstone Beach carpark just after noon, about an hour after high tide. It was a warm day, being around 19 to 20 degrees right up until I left at 4 pm. The big surprise walking down to the beach was to see that all the seaweed piled up there yesterday was now completely gone!

Where the seaweed had piled up yesterday.

Looking westwards from in front of the carpark, towards the Taunoa Stream.

I walked my usual fossick trail, down to the Waimeamea River lagoon. I found three or four nice little jaspers along the lagoon’s edge, and a few more elsewhere on the beach. This was one of them:

Side A.

Side B.

Four other small red jaspers I found this afternoon:

Among the green stones I found was this breccia with dark markings in the matrix:

Six other green (probably epidote) stones, including two trace fossil ones:

Green epidote and white quartz veins.

Argillite with unusual long thin trace fossil.

Another unusual colour for a trace fossil.

Finally, five more finds:

Side A of a oink-patched stone.

Side B of stone.

Fine dark red traces of mineral.

This one is a sugar-type quartz – the veins caught my eye.

I have not seen many dark quartzites like this in the Gemstone Beach area.

The light-coloured veins in this quirky little stone caught my eye.

In general, I came across very few hydrogrossular garnets this afternoon but quite a few trace fossil stones.

On my way back to the carpark, I stopped and chatted to the local gold miner who daily visits in his ATV. He often pulls a trailer behind, with a small sluice box to run water over sand to collect fine gold. His claim covers a number of kilometres of the Te Waewae Bay coast. He said that when gold mining was initially carried out here, in the late 19th century, each claim consisted of only a 12 foot (3.5 metres) wide piece of the beach – much richer ground than today! See here for a 1993 “New Zealand Geographic” article on gold mining in the Orepuki area that mentions the fine gold that can be found on the local beaches.

And it’s farewell to Gemstone Beach from me for this fossicking trip.

The next Part of this Series reports on a fossick at Kakanui as I travel north, back to Whanganui – it includes a significant section about the stones with bryozoan fossils that I find there. The Series Index is here.

Today I made my second last visit this trip to Gemstone Beach. The weather was fine and warmish, 14 degrees when I arrived at 11.40am, climbing to 17 degrees when I left three hours later. There were quite a lot of other people there, the carpark was crowded. I noticed three or four surfers in the water, unusual for here, but I received a more significant surprise when I saw big piles of seaweed in front of the carpark, in places over a metre high! It thinned out as I walked towards the Taunoa Stream before thickening again at the stream. It seems to be very similar to the seaweed that has recently washed up on some Auckland beaches.

The seaweed in front of the Gemstone Beach carpark.

The man is standing in the Taunoa Stream.

Stones and sand were all mixed in with, and on top of, the seaweed.

After I crossed the stream, I found the seaweed was absent altogether after about 200 metres. I was able to make it right down to the mouth of the Waimeamea River today, at the far end of the lagoon. This was because the outlet at the start of the lagoon was only a trickle – the sea had thrown up a lot of stones, nearly blocking it off completely again.

The lagoon today. The outlet across the stones was nearly blocked.

The small flow from the lagoon outlet.

Horses on the horizon, just above the river mouth.

One of today’s finds was a pink and black stone, reminiscent of rhodonite. I found it near the end of my fossick while I was walking over the dry stones. The pink is sometimes intense and in interesting patterns:

Side A.

Side B.

This jasper-quartz stone has some nice red, purple, pink and white sections:

Side A.

Side B.

Two stones that I think could be amygdaloidal:

A couple of small black and white stones:

Six more of today’s interesting finds:

Orbicular-looking crystals?

A range of interesting details can be seen in this stone.

The very fine green mineral splashes caught my eye.

Quartzite with green epidote??

Tiny elongated crystals in here.

A kind of sugar quartz.

Part 31 of this Series reports on my final fossick, for this trip, at Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.

After two days not visiting the beach due to bad weather, I spent three and a half hours at Gemstone Beach and nearby Te Waewae Bay coast this morning. It was cold and windy with the odd rain shower. A couple of people with their dog were the only ones there when I arrived. It was just after high tide, but it was apparent that the sea had moved a lot of sand onto the beach in front of the carpark – I had to walk down to the Taunoa Stream to find any substantial patches of stones. Recent rain had made the Taunoa Stream almost unfordable, and I waited and fossicked around the stream until the tide had gone down a little, giving me more space to attempt a crossing. I was successful, though I got some water in my gumboots (as happened again later when I came back).

Gemstone Beach this morning, a bleak scene.

The Taunoa Stream. A lot of stones and sand have been moved around over the last couple of days.

The Taunoa Stream flowing high with recent rain.

I slowly made my way down to the Waimeamea River lagoon. Most of the stones across the beach were wet because of the occasional rain and lack of sunshine, so I could spot the colourful ones without having to risk the waves. However I couldn’t go as far as I usually do. The Waimeamea River had forced a channel through the stones to the sea at the eastern end of the lagoon. This is the first time this has happened this trip. And the water was far too deep and swift to ford.

The Waimeamea River lagoon today, a couple of hours after high tide.

The Waimeamea River flowing through a channel in the stone barrier.

The Waimeamea River rushing to the sea – not fordable.

I found three poppy jaspers today, two near the Waimeamea River and one halfway back to the carpark:

I also found a few pink stones, at least some of them classic thulites. Here are two pinkies:

Thulite.

I came across a glassy stone with a bright green mineral in it, maybe chrome in hydrogrossular garnet. A torch behind it highlights its degree of transparency. I have collected a handful of similar stones on previous trips, though this is the biggest one so far:

Chrome in hydrogrossular garnet?

With a torch shining behind the stone.

A small hydrogrossular garnet, also with a torch behind it:

Small hydrogrossular garnet.

With a torch shining behind it.

A small quartz stone with tiny black inclusions:

With a torch behind the stone.

Two colourful spotty stones – when my friend John who lives in Scotland saw a photo of the first one, he suggested it could be a “highly metamorphosed vesicular basalt”. The vesicles have likely been infilled by minerals left behind by superheated water. The second stone may be a very similar type:

Three different kinds of dark stones with tiny white crystals – the first has a horizontal linear pattern of interest, the second has some grey mixed in with the black and white, and the third has some elongated crystals:

Two stones made green by epidote – one with transparent quartz “windows”, the other a large trace fossil stone:

Finally, four other finds I made today:

The first Part of this Series can be found here. The Series Index is here.

Chrissy Hellyer (Tumble and Polish blog) joined me today for a fossick starting at Gemstone Beach then moving west to the Waimeamea River mouth. It was cold and chilly. The temperature was only eight degrees when we arrived at the carpark at 10.30am. Some wind was blowing and rain showers were threatening. At one point, not far from the Waimeamea River lagoon, we endured a short sharp hail shower.

A cold day on Te Waewae Bay.

Gemstone Beach and the Waimeamea River. Source: Mapcarta.com.

Gemstone Beach. Source: Google Maps.

Waimeamea River lagoon. Source: Mapcarta.com.

Surprisingly, we felt warm enough to undertake a four and a half hour fossick – we were well dressed for both the cold and the wet. We both collected quite a few stones for tumble-polishing. I found an intriguing jasper, the first in the photos below, and Chrissy found a very nice poppy jasper, the second set of photos below.

Red jasper with maybe chalcedony/agate.

Chrissy’s gorgeous little poppy jasper. Photo taken in low light on the beach.

Among the interesting coloured and patterned stones I found today were these eight:

Lots going on in this dark stone.

Close-ups reveal interesting crystals.

A stone similar to the one featured in Part 25.

Mudstone breccia,

Pink thulite.

Probably a rhyolite, with an interesting texture.

The brown spots caught my eye.

Two poppy jaspers I found today plus a hematite jasper and a stone with an interesting vein through it:

First of my poppy jasper finds.

The second of my poppy jasper finds.

Small hematite jasper.

The vein in this stone caught my eye.

The next stone, a small dark one with flashes of white, was found by Chrissy and given to me. We think it might be a hydrogrossular garnet, though we’re not certain. Two larger trace fossil stones follow, with the fourth stone maybe containing trace fossils but the shapes are have an unusual border. Then comes a mudstone, probably argillite, with unusual inclusions. Finally, Chrissy spotted this large argillite with intriguing patterns – we left it on the beach as it is far too big to tumble-polish.

We think this might be a hydrogrossular garnet.

Trace fossil stone.

Trace fossil stone.

Might or might not be trace fossils.

Interesting mudstone.

Large argillite spotted by Chrissy, left on beach (too big to tumble-polish).

The first Part of this Series can be found here. The Series Index is here.

Part 25

Part 26

Gemstone Beach

Gemstone Beach

Te Waewae Bay coast

This morning I decided to catch up on writing some blog posts but come mid-morning I thought I would go for a quick fossick at Gemstone Beach. The forecast for tomorrow was not good so a fossick today might be preferable. When I arrived at the carpark, I walked past a couple getting out of a campervan and we got talking. It turned out that Gary and Margaret were from my home town, Whanganui. They had just been to the Riverton Aparima Museum and Information Centre who had mentioned that a man from Whanganui had once sold some Gemstone Beach polished stones at their shop. And, lo and behold, there I was when they arrived at Gemstone Beach! As Gary said, “It’s a small world!” The tide was very low so I walked with Margaret and Gary to the Taunoa Stream where they could search the wet stones there (see this Post for a description of the beach showing the location of the Taunoa Stream). We chatted for a while about different stones we found, then I made my way to the Waimeamea River (see this Post, the description of Section Three, for the position of this river in relation to Gemstone Beach).

I left Gary and Margaret fossicking in the Taunoa Stream (centre) and made my way to the Waimeamea River.

Looking to where I went.

Looking back once I got to where I went.

On the beach in front of the Waimeamea River lagoon, I got swamped by a wave. I took my boots and socks off to dry them a little, then I put them back on and made my way back to the carpark.

Seepages run from under the stones, emptying half of the Waimeamea lagoon at low tide.

The dry part of the Waimeamea lagoon today.

The potential swamping waves…

Before leaving the beach, three hours after I had arrived, I saw Claire and Brett who I had met on Tuesday (see Part 23), who were just in the process themselves of being swamped by a wave, and we briefly showed each other some of our finds.

Generally today, I collected a few more hydrogrossular garnets than during recent fossicks, I spotted the usual trace fossil stone temptations, and I picked up a few of the beach’s colourful specimens. I didn’t find any poppy jaspers today, though Claire showed me a jasper that had some orbs on part of its surface. Featured below are 14 of the stones I collected today.

The first of the two finds immediately below is what I think of as probably amygdaloidal, an igneous stone which originally had tiny gas bubbles which were subsequently infilled by minerals deposited by hot water (for more detail on this process, see this Post). The second stone is also igneous, maybe a rhyolite, though the textbooks say that rhyolite tends to be light-coloured – this stone has a deep dark rich colour.

Maybe an amygdaloidal stone?

Maybe a rhyolite??

Four stones I found intriguing:

Small brecciated jasper – not sure what the matrix is.

Maybe a light-coloured brecciated quartzite.

Green and orange.

The yellowish tinge caught my eye.

Some variations of types of stones I often collect:

A “greenie” – quartzite with epidote?

A red one – brecciated jasper – has holes in it but may be big enough to be tumbled smooth.

Very small stone.

Banded argillite.

Large hydrogrossular garnet.

Red trace fossil.

Stress fractured trace fossil.

Many traces in this larger stone.

The next day, I undertook a four and a half hour fossick on the Te Waewae Bay coast in chilly weather with Chrissy – see here. The Series Index is here.

Today at Gemstone Beach I met up with fossicker Claire Thompson and her husband Brett from Lower Hutt. We spent quite a bit of time chatting, sharing our finds, and talking stones – great company! The weather was cool, around 12 degrees, the sky was cloudy with the odd drop of rain. A group from the Southern Institute of Technology arrived while we were there and we spoke with several of them about local stones and geology. I left after a couple of hours, having been swamped three times by the waves of the incoming tide – talking about stones can be distracting!

The Taunoa Stream had dug down into the stones a bit.

A photo taken as I left the beach, just after noon. There were only two people here when I arrived.

I ventured only a couple of hundred metres past the Taunoa Stream today, and collected fewer stones than usual, maybe about 35. Here are eight of my finds:

Lovely small dark stone with light-coloured swirls.

Pink in a dark stone.

Interesting texture. And colour.

Intense orange.

The yellow in this breccia caught my eye.

Interesting jasper, with some brecciation in bottom left.

The “spots” caught my eye.

The next day I made my second visit this trip to a Slope Point beach – see here. The Series Index is here.

At Gemstone Beach today, I spent two and a half hours looking for stones to tumble polish. The weather was warmer than for usual, being 20 degrees when I left at 4.20pm, though the wind was starting to get up. I had to wait again for the high tide waves to recede a bit before crossing the Taunoa Stream. I chatted to a fossicker from Auckland for a while before I moved westwards.

When I arrived at Gemstone Beach, 2pm on a Sunday.

The powerful waves of Te Waewae Bay, just west of Gemstone Beach.

Driftwood on the down-wind edge of the Waimeamea River lagoon.

Stones on the Te Waewae Bay beach, west of Gemstone Beach.

I found some very interesting little stones, three small poppy jaspers, and a handful of nice hydrogrossular garnets. Below are two of the poppy jaspers:

Three other small stones that caught my eye:

Maybe chrome in diopside in hydrogrossular garnet – Side A of stone.

Side B of stone.

Unusual bright light-blue.

The first stone I found, in front of the carpark at Gemstone Beach.

Six “greenies” from my fossick – green-hued stones, or stone with green in them.

Banded argillite with inclusions of quartz-epidote.

Quite an intense lime green when face-to-face.

A dirty green mudstone, brecciated.

Trace fossils in dark green argillite. They have eroded at a slower rate than the host argillite.

Eight other finds, four of them being hydrogrossular garnets:

Hydrogrossular garnet.

Hydrogrossular garnet.

Hydrogrossular garnet.

Hydrogrossular garnet.

In Part 23, I meet up with a number of people at Gemstone Beach and end up collecting only a few stones this time. The Series Index is here.