March 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 20, With the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club on Gemstone Beach, Sunday 23 March

Me (left) with Lois and George, Club members. Photo by Andrew Thompson-Davies from his phone. Gemstone Beach.

My 50 finds today, Gemstone Beach.

The Southland Geological and Lapidary Club had a field trip to Gemstone Beach this morning. I became a member when the Club was revived recently, despite the fact that I live in the North Island. The first Club meeting I attended six months ago is reported here. So I was pleased to be able to be take part in their field trip. About ten members were there, most of us not straying too far from the Taunoa Stream. I had some great chats with fellow stone enthusiasts from the Club. It was a warm and sunny morning, and the tide was retreating. When we finished up around 12 noon, there were lots of people in front of the carpark – it’s a popular beach.

A nice patch of stones on the beach in front of the carpark.

Me (right) with George, a Club member. Photo by Andrew Thompson-Davies from his phone.

Me (left) with Lois and George, Club members. Photo by Andrew Thompson-Davies from his phone. Gemstone Beach.

When leaving the beach, the view towards the Taunoa Stream – southeastern Fiordland in the far distance. There w

Looking across The Stream With No Name when leaving the beach. Pahia Hill in the background.

My 50 finds today, Gemstone Beach.

In between chats, I picked up 50 stones to take away. Seven of them are featured below.

The first is an unusual stone. It is more glassy than it looks in the photos below. I initially thought it might be a glassy form of hydrogrossular garnet. A Club member, who is a geologist and works for a Museum, suggested it is chromite (chromium?) in quartz, a type of stone I have seen mentioned before.

A small thulite, with some tiny intense pink areas:

A kind of brecciated jasper:

A small black volcanic stone, maybe basalt, with interesting white crystals:

A very bright dark jasper that I found in the Taunoa Stream – one side has a chunk out it, a spoiler for a tumble polisher, but I couldn’t resist picking it up:

A much more subdued-hued pebble:

Finally, a busy trace fossil stone, both sides showing numerous traces:

A visit to Slope Point is the subject of the next Post. 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