Just a 30 minute fossick this afternoon on a cold cloudy day with a stiff breeze. The Back Beach is right on Foveaux Strait, with Stewart Island Rakiura on the southern horizon. There are a lot of stones on this beach though it was low tide and few of them were wet.
The location of the Back Beach is 30 kilometres east of Gemstone Beach and there are some similarities in the kind of stones from these two beaches. However, in my view, the quality and diversity here are not as good as Gemstone Beach. Some great stones can be found here – see this 2022 Post – but they are harder to find.
Riverton Aparima itself lies about 40 kilometres west of Invercargill. It is the oldest pakeha settlement in Southland. A whaling station was first established here in the mid-1830s. Riverton Rocks, comprising Taramea Bay, Mitchell’s Bay and Henderson Bay, became an important seaside holiday destination. My grandparents owned a crib (holiday home) at Henderson Bay from the late 1950s/early 1960s and I spent many Christmas holidays there as a child.
Here are six of today’s finds. The first two are dark green brecciated stones of a type also found on Gemstone Beach:
Two different small rounded pebbles, the first with a flash of purple, the second with noticeable white quartz pieces within:
The final two featured finds are a nice smooth white stone with interesting inclusions, and a bright orange one:
Part 10 reports on a cold wet fossick at Gemstone Beach, highlighting 11 finds. An Index to this Series is here.
2 thoughts on “March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 9, Nine Finds from the Back Beach, Riverton Aparima, Friday 7 March”