March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 14, Five Fossickers, a Dog and Petrified Wood on Gemstone Beach, Friday 14 March

Chrissy and Ohla at the Waimeamea River mouth today.

My Gemstone Beach finds today.

Petrified wood, wet, Gemstone Beach.

Trace fossils in argillite.

Other side of mudstone breccia.

I spent three hours on Gemstone Beach this morning with Chrissy, Shona, Lee and Brian, and Chrissy’s dog Ohla. Shona, Lee and Brian live in or near Pahiatua in the North Island. Shona and Lee are fellow members of the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils” and I met them before while down South, two years ago.

Chrissy and I are members of the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club and attended their monthly meeting in Invercargill last night. I had spoken to the Club six months ago. Last night, a healthy turnout of nearly 20 members brought along recent finds and polished stones. There were stones from Stewart Island Rakiura, Ashburton and Gemstone Beach, as well as from a recent fieldtrip the Club had made to Hedgehope. One member, Lois, had the best trace fossil I have seen, found on Riverton’s Back Beach. Another member had been busy making gorgeous pendants. There was a sales table there, which included a nice slice of spherulitic rhyolite. Some of the Club’s library books were also set out on a table. The Club’s website is here and its Facebook Page is here.

This morning, on Gemstone Beach, it started out cool but was sunny and we were quite warm at the end. A school party was on the beach in front of the carpark at noon – counting us, there were 30 people (and three dogs) there. My 50 finds included a piece of petrified wood, rare for Gemstone Beach. It is the first of the ten of my finds featured below.

The other four of today’s stone hunting party.

Chrissy and Ohla at the Waimeamea River mouth today.

Ohla the dog. Gemstone Beach.

On the way back to the carpark. Five fossickers on Gemstone Beach.

At the end of the fossick, about 25 people on the beach, including a school group.

My Gemstone Beach finds today.

I picked this stone up when dry, and I’m not sure why. When wet, it started to look like it might be petrified wood, a rare find on Gemstone Beach these days. One side has a gash in it:

Petrified wood, dry, Gemstone Beach.

Petrified wood, wet, Gemstone Beach.

The other side is more uniform:

Other side of petrified wood, dry.

Other side of petrified wood, wet.

The only other piece of petrified wood I have found here was in September 2024.

One of the trace fossil stones I found:

Trace fossils in argillite.

A mudstone breccia that sometimes might be mistaken for trace fossils:

Mudstone breccia.

Other side of mudstone breccia.

Three green hued stones, all with at least some epidote in them:

There is some information on epidote near the beginning of this Post.

A small hydrogrossular garnet, with interesting black lines in it:

Hydrogrossular garnet.

“Hydrogrossular Garnet” is a Post with details about this type of stone, including photos of its variations.

Three more of this morning’s finds, collected because of the interesting details apparent within each:

Part 15 reports on another Gemstone Beach fossick the next day with the same four stone hunters. An Index to this Series is here.

Author: tumblestoneblog

Retired Academic, male, living in the New Zealand countryside near Whanganui with his wife as well as Jasper the dog, Fluffy the cat, Dancer and Penny, the horses, and a shed half-full of stones. Email john.tumblestone@gmail.com. View all posts by tumblestoneblog