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.
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.
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:
This jasper-quartz stone has some nice red, purple, pink and white sections:
Two stones that I think could be amygdaloidal:
A couple of small black and white stones:
Six more of today’s interesting finds:
Part 31 of this Series reports on my final fossick, for this trip, at Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.
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