Month: March 2024

Yesterday’s weather was too stormy for me to venture out onto the beach. But I was keen to see what stones might have been turned up today by the rough weather, so I went to Gemstone Beach at high tide. I was joined there by Chrissy Hellyer who writes the “Tumble and Polish” blog. However, after observing how the waves were coming a long way up the beach, we decided to spend an hour firstly fossicking safely in front of the car park.

In front of the carpark, the waves were coming fairly high up the beach. Looking west.

Looking east.

The waves washing right up to the cliffs past the Taunoa Stream.

Chrissy fossicking in front of the Gemstone Beach carpark while we waited for the tide to go out enough to make it safe to venture westwards.

While waiting for the tide to recede, we met a French man and his wife. He is a recently retired architect who spends time in Queenstown. We explained we were collecting stones for tumble-polishing. He was very interested, mentioning he had done some sculpture with stone. He was also interested in driftwood, of which there was a lot on Gemstone Beach just then. I gave him four tumble-polished Gemstone Beach stones as a souvenir. I then chatted briefly to a fossicker called Andrew who asked about what the tide was doing. He showed me a lovely jasper he had just found. He later found a few more and posted them on the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”.

After an hour, Chrissy and I crossed the Taunoa Stream and headed up to the Waimeamea River lagoon. Initially there were still waves coming high up the beach but they soon dropped back. They remained energetic, and the odd one caused us to scamper up the beach as we fossicked along their edge. We found a diversity of interesting stones. Chrissy found a couple of poppy jaspers, I found a few trace fossil stones, and while we collected a few nice small hydrogrossular garnets, we did not find any larger ones.

Many of my finds again had intriguing colours and patterns. The first one below has a lighter-coloured section revealing the stone’s composition – the dark and light contrast is part of its appeal:

Side A of stone.

Side B of stone.

I’m not sure if the next stone is a jasper, as I first thought, or a quartzite, as I thought a possibility after seeing the close-ups:

Side A.

Side B.

The next stone has an intriguing set of crystals – Chrissy described them as like many tiny bird tracks. I have seen a couple of similar stones here before, but they are rare in my experience.

Side A.

Side B.

The fourth stone is another small one but packed with lots of different tiny features:

Side A.

Side B.

And one of those very small jaspers that turns out to have fascinating colours and patterns:

Side A.

Side B.

Eight more of today’s interesting finds:

Some iron oxide veins?

Green quartzite.

Mudstone/argillite breccia?

A variety of banded argillite.

Also banded argillite.

Another type of banded argillite.

Green epidote?

Maybe orbicular?

And a final four:

Brecciated quartzite?

Type of hydrogrossular garnet – opaque with touch of blue.

Nice dark trace fossil.

Three photos of Chrissy fossicking up near the Waimeamea River lagoon. Two are taken from a distance, using a zoom, making her appear closer to the waves than she really was. In places, some of the stones are bigger here too.

The next Part in this Series features two poppy jaspers found at the same beach. The Series Index is here.

Today, starting at Gemstone Beach, I walked my usual fossicking trail along the Te Waewae Bay coast to the Waimeamea River mouth, a distance of 1.5 kilometres. Once there, I decided to venture about another 200 metres further before turning back. This route consists of Sections Two and Three in the TumbleStoneTwo Post, “Gemstone Beach: Location on Te Waewae Bay”.

Looking down on Gemstone Beach, and its in-cliff house, from a nearby hill.

Looking towards the area in front of the Gemstone Beach carpark. Taunoa Stream below.

The Taunoa Stream flowing across the beach.

The Taunoa Stream at stream level.

I had started out at 11 am with some sun and a lot of wind, and with rain visible in the far distance. After about an hour, when the rain came closer, I returned to my car to get my raincoat. And I needed it for the next four hours. The conditions were cold and often wet. But the rain also made all the stones wet so my fossicking scan could move beyond the waves’ edge. I met up with Chrissy Hellyer just before she got to the lagoon and I had her company for the last hour or so.

Waimeamea River lagoon. The outlet has been blocked by stones piled up by the waves.

What’s left of the former outflow. Lagoon to the left.

A number of significant seepage flows existed along the bank of stones in front of the lagoon.

An unusual stone or two always seems to crop up, such as today’s spectacular little mossy jasper.

One small dark red jasper I found turned out to have amazing detail in it when I zoomed in close:

A stone with unusual colours, maybe a quartzite:

This stones seems to have some tiny orbicular-type material in it, along with small patches of green epidote:

There are always black volcanic stones with white crystals to be found, and each one is unique:

More finds:

The “wave” shape caught my eye.

Nice banded argillite.

An unusual banded argillite with trace fossils.

Brecciation.

Small hematite jasper.

Part 21 reports on another windy fossick with part of it delayed on the beach at the carpark due to the high tide and energetic waves. The Series Index is here.

Yesterday was quite stormy, with a lot of wind and rain, so I didn’t go out fossicking. Instead, I spent some time catching up with blog Posts. Today I ventured out again, driving the 30 kilometres to Orepuki, and I spent three hours on Gemstone Beach and westwards. In some ways, this was the most productive of my fossicks here so far. It seemed like the stones had been given a good toss around by the storm-energised waves as I found more interesting ones than usual – more spots and bands and dashes of colours.

The scene as I left the beach, in front of the carpark. Snow-topped mountains in background

Looking across a still-energised set of waves.

The snow-topped mountains.

The scene in front of the carpark as I returned to the car.

Gemstone Beach stones today.

Some of my finds today were spectacular, this one in particular. I found it down near the Waimeamea River lagoon. The colour is unique amongst the stones I have found on this beach so far. I suspect it is a jasper, partly because it contains hematite. It is very smooth, almost perfectly so.

Side A of the stone.

Side B of the stone.

At the Waimeamea River lagoon, I climbed a small hill to take my usual photo and to check how full the lagoon was. A small outlet had formed, with the flow being about the same currently as the Taunoa Stream, back near the carpark.

The lagoon of the Waimeamea River today.

A small outlet for the lagoon has appeared.

I went over to the outlet and slowly walked down one side and up the other, looking for stones. This little red one caught my attention, a bright hematite orbicular jasper, also known as a poppy jasper:

A small red stone stood out brightly in the water.

The small poppy jasper.

Other dark red jaspers I found today, including two other poppies:

Another small poppy jasper.

Slightly bigger poppy jasper.

Very small but colourful jasper.

Other finds that are predominantly red or purple or pink, some of them with tiny white crystals:

Among the things that catch my attention on the beach are bands or veins or shapes that are lighter or darker than the rest of a stone:

The sediments turned into this banded argillite had been disturbed somehow and created interesting patterns.

Dark green epidote veins?

And sometimes spots, inclusions and quite tiny details make a stone worthy of collection:

Very unusual colour for this beach.

A type of spotted argillite?

A couple of grey spots caught my eye in this one.

The next Part in this Series includes a nice small mossy jasper found on Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.

I very nearly didn’t go to Gemstone Beach this morning. There was wind and rain overnight, and morning temperatures were cool. But I decided I would make use of my wet weather gear and headed out. I arrived at the carpark at 9.15 am, the temperature having risen slightly to nine degrees, with still some rain around. There was only one campervan parked up at the beach, and I passed the couple as I walked onto the beach. “It’s a cold morning!” was their greeting to me.

I left my camera and backpack in the car, thinking I might do a quick 30 minute fossick. The Taunoa Stream was higher than previously due to the overnight rain and I just made it to the other side, my waterproof leggings helping to keep water out of the top of my gumboots. There were plenty of stones in front of the carpark but the first 150 metres past the stream was predominantly sand, right to the foot of the cliffs. But then the stones appeared, most of them wet from the rain, the sun came out, and quite a few interesting finds appeared. The overnight storm had produced energetic waves that had given the stones a good tossing about, turning up a good range of types. I kept fossicking until I reached the mouth of the Waimeamea River at which point I turned back. I half-filled each of the two pockets in my raincoat. In the end, I was three hours on the beach.

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

Waimeamea River lagoon. Source: Mapcarta.com.

Waimeamea River lagoon today – photo taken on phone.

It was amongst the best Gemstone Beach fossicks of the trip so far. One of the most gorgeous finds was this small stone with bright green mineral in it:

It has been suggested that the green might be a form of “chrome diopside” – I have explored this in another Post (yet to be published). The next find is a small but bright red jasper – the tiny swirling threads of red and orange against the dark hematite background is amazing:

Side A of small jasper.

Side B of small jasper. Mabe a little white chalcedony at bottom left.

My eye always seems to be drawn by the tiny scattering of orange in the following kind of stone:

Two brown hydrogrossular garnets I found today:

One of the two poppy jaspers I found:

I gave the other poppy jasper away. On the way back to the carpark at the end of my fossick, once I had forded the Taunoa Stream again, I walked past three people looking at stones. I saw a nice small hydrogrossular garnet so I picked it up and approached one of the group, explaining to her that it was a good example of a type of stone associated with this beach. It turned out that she was from the Czech Republic and had been in New Zealand for a few years. Her parents were visiting her and that morning they had come to Gemstone Beach. They were very interested in the stones so I also discussed with them specimens of poppy jasper and trace fossils that I had found, the daughter translating for her parents. I left them with a nice poppy jasper and a couple of larger hydrogrossular garnets. It was a good end to a good fossick.

I found a number of variations of trace fossil stones today, with large or small traces, of different colours and shapes:

A large well-defined protovirgularia shape trace.

Lots of tiny traces.

A large spotted argillite stone with some small traces.

The hint of a dark trace fossil in a light-coloured stone.

Trace fossils in a red stone.

And seven more of my finds:

Pink thulite.

Rhyolite.

I left my camera in the car, to avoid getting it wet in the rain. However, the rain stopped after about ten minutes and the sun came out. I took some photos on my phone:

A dark wet Gemstone Beach this morning when I arrived.

The backside of the cold front moving away.

The part of the beach that was mainly sand on the surface.

Not far along were lots of stones.

The TumbleStoneTwo home page for Gemstone Beach is here.

The next Part of this Series highlights more spectacular finds from a Gemstone Beach fossick. The Series Index is here.

I had a big day yesterday, visiting Slope Point, so I decided to have only an hour’s fossick at Gemstone Beach late this morning. The weather was good but the tide was low and the waves were wetting mainly smaller stones. I fossicked mainly in front of the carpark, not venturing past the Taunoa Stream. By the time I left there were probably about 30 people on the beach, most of them passing motorists and campers I suspect.

Below are photos of five of my best finds. The first caught my eye because of the tiny breccia in the central vein, the second because of the range of materials and patterns in it, and the third is a nice brown hydrogrossular garnet with an unusual white band:

The final two are a small grey pebble with some tiny inclusions and a jasper with intense green veins:

Part 18 in this Series features stones from a post-storm fossick on Gemstone Beach and a chat with three people from the Czech Republic. The Series Index is here.

I spent 90 minutes at low tide at Gemstone Beach on Te Waewae Bay today. There was a lot more sand and stretches of tiny stones than previous days, but still lots of good-sized stones as I walked westwards.

Large stretch of sand just to the west of the carpark at Gemstone Beach.

Further west, a better selection of stones.

More larger stones appear as you get further west.

I collected 39 stones altogether. A number of them, like the first four below, are shades of green.

Interesting light-green “cloud” of mineral, probably epidote, in quartz.

A different hue of green, with opaque white.

Fingernail sized very small stone, great intense green!

Mudstone breccia.

Four more of today’s finds. I keep finding good specimens of trace fossil stones. I am always on the look out for a dark stone with dark traces and I found one today, the first of the four stones below. The second is a banded ignimbrite – I look for nice smooth specimens.

Dark coloured trace fossils.

Another quite small stone, a type of rhyolite, probably banded ignimbrite.

I am always attracted to stones with tiny white crystals.

Some interesting detail.

The next Part describes a fossicking trip to a Slope Point beach. The Series Index is here.