March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 15, Colours and Shapes from Gemstone Beach, Saturday 15 March

At Gemstone Beach yesterday, a few people had crossed the Taunoa Stream, walking westwards.

Today’s 75 finds from Gemstone Beach.

Brecciation in vein.

Interesting colours and swirls.

Banded argillite.

Today I spent two and a half hours on Gemstone Beach on a sunny though windy afternoon, just after high tide. I was accompanied by Chrissy, Shona, Lee and Brian, the same group as yesterday, minus Ohla the dog. As it was the weekend, a lot of other people were there too. Many of them had crossed the Taunoa Stream and were wandering further westwards along the beach. The tide was high but going out. Chrissy left early and when I turned back, Shona, Lee and Brian pushed on towards the Waimeamea River. On the way back to the car, I chatted with a young German couple who are at university in Dunedin, leaving them with a polished stone as a souvenir. I came away with 75 finds, nine of which are shown below.

At Gemstone Beach yesterday, a few people had crossed the Taunoa Stream, walking westwards.

Later in the fossick, looking back towards the carpark. Chrissy is on far left, with the orange backpack, having to leave early.

Today’s 75 finds from Gemstone Beach.

A stone I particularly like is this small light-green one with some tiny brecciation in one of its veins. It is interesting when stones reveal more and more as you look closer at them:

Brecciation in vein.

Other side of stone.

Another of my favourites, this stone (below) has colours and shapes that caught my eye. Nicola, in a comment made on the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”, observed that it looks like a Persian rug (I met Nicola and her rock buddy Angie when they visited the South two years ago):

Interesting colours and swirls.

Other side of stone.

The colours and shapes in the next stone are smaller:

The fourth featured find is a very small orbicular hematite jasper, also known as a poppy jasper. However, I didn’t confirm its identification until I looked at its photos as much of it is dark and it is very small:

Very small orbicular jasper.

A view of the orbs.

One of the types of stones that stand out on the beach is banded argillite, especially the variety that has a glazed (semi-melted) look:

Banded argillite.

I suspected this next small stone had something interesting in it but I knew I needed to look at a close-up photo to see. It turns out to have some brecciation (fragmentation):

Three final finds, a green stone with tiny white specks, a black and white spotted stone, and some more irregular shapes:

Tiny white specks in this stone.

Black and white spots.

Shapes.

Part 16 features a fossick at Gemstone Beach after a significant rainfall. 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