I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 9.30 a.m., just before Chrissy drove into the carpark. Along with her lovely dog Ohla, we spent 90 minutes fossicking on the beach, and I collected 55 stones. High tide was to be at 1 p.m. but when we left at 11 a.m. the waves were starting to sweep right up the beach. Upon arrival, the temperature was 12 degrees and there was little wind. We forded the Taunoa Stream and spent most of our time fossicking for about 300 metres past the stream.
On our way back, just as we reached the stream, the wind came up, the hail came down, and the temperature plunged to six degrees. It became distinctly uncomfortable. Luckily, we were not far from our vehicles!
Thirteen of my morning’s finds are featured below. The first is the most intriguing, maybe a breccia of many tiny fragments:
A bright little stone, what I think could also be a breccia where the white clasts are partly in a yellowish matrix:
I found a few good trace fossil stones this morning. Here are three which illustrate their diversity: different colours, different arrangements, different degrees of completeness:
I also picked up a handful of nice hydrogrossular garnets. These are the three best, in descending order by size (6.5 cms long, 4 cms, and 3 cms):
A dark-coloured brecciated hematite jasper with a little quartz in it:
When I found this jasper on the beach, I thought it was likely to also be brecciated but I can now see there is a hint of the orbicular in it too:
Two different veined greenish quartzites:
And finally, another stone with an intricate tracery of veins:
Part 15 involves a visit to a Slope Point beach. The Index to the Posts in this Series can be found here.
It was definitely your day for some great finds! I can’t believe I lost another glove! That’s my 2nd one!!