August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 8, A Sense of Wonder: Poppy Jaspers and Exquisite Breccias on Gemstone Beach, Monday 11 August

I stayed away from the beach for a few days – it was cold and windy and often wet. So I caught up on Blog Posts and leisure reading instead. This morning saw no wind or rain though it was cloudy. So I ventured out again. It was only seven degrees when I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 9.50am, and nine degrees when I left two hours later. But it was comfortable on the beach, wearing my hat and scarf and puffer jacket. Throughout this time, there seemed to always be two or three cars in the carpark and/or six to eight people on the beach. The tide was coming in, high tide being scheduled for 1.46pm, so I didn’t wander too far past the Taunoa Stream, turning back after 45 minutes. I found a number of interesting stones this morning, a handful of trace fossils, and one decent sized hydrogrossular garnet. But the main prizes today were five small poppy jaspers and a stuning breccia.

I picked up the first poppy jasper just ten metres after crossing the Taunoa Stream, thinking then that this was going to be the highlight of the fossick. Then another two appeared west of there. On my way back to the carpark, I spent some time looking in the Taunoa Stream itself and found another. The final one was on the beach halfway between the stream and the carpark.

Another stunning find was this pale brecciated stone – I don’t think I’ve seen anything to rival it:

Another really interesting breccia:

I find the pattern of white patches in this quartzite(?) to be very attractive:

Every now and again I spot a stone like this, with pale blue through it – it is hard not to add it to my bag of finds:

On the beach, I could see something was going on in the central vein of this next stone – it took the close-up image to revel the complexity of it:

Another veined stone that caught my eye, probably rhyolite:

A multi-veined stone that’s been pushed around a bit:

I didn’t spot many trace fossil stones, but here are two of the five I picked up:

I am constantly amazed at the beauty and diversity that can be found on Gemstone Beach as shown in these stones. Yes, it can take time to hunt out the really stunning ones. And some fossicks are better than others. But as revealed in the photos, geological processes, with pressure and heat and the creative forces of deep water and fiery volcanoes, produce wonderous bright colours and patterns. I’m always left with a sense of wonder.

“A Sense of Wonder” is a song by Van Morrison (YouTube video below). Note that it includes references to his youth in Belfast, Ireland. Newtonards, Comber, Gransha, and Bollystockart are all roads in that city. “Spike and Boffyflow” are two people that Morrison refers to in the liner notes for the album – they are also partly a reference to an instrumental of the Chieftains, written by Morrison, which was entitled “Boffyflow and Spike”.

“A Sense of Wonder” by Van Morrison (1984)

I walked in my greatcoat
Down through the days of the leaves.
No before after, yes after before
We were shining our light into the days of blooming wonder
In the eternal presence, in the presence of the flame.

Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder
Didn’t I come to lift your fiery vision bright
Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder in the flame.

On and on and on and on we kept on singing our song
Over Newtonards and Comber, Gransha and the Ballystockart Road.
With Spike and Boffyflow, I said I would describe the leaves for Samuel and Felicity
Rich red browney, half-burnt orange and green.

Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder
Didn’t I come to lift your fiery vision bright
Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder in the flame.

It’s easy to describe the leaves in the autumn
And it’s oh so easy in the spring
But down through January and February it’s a very different thing.

On and on and on, through the winter of our discontent
When the wind blows up the collar and the ears are frostbitten too
I said I could describe the leaves for Samuel and what it means to you and me
You may call my love Sophia, but I call my love Philosophy.

Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder
Didn’t I come to lift your fiery vision bright
Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder in the flame...

Wee Alfie at the Castle Picture House on the Castlereagh Road
Whistling on the corner next door where he kept Johnny Mack Brown’s horse
“O Solo Mio” by McGimsey
And the man who played the saw outside the city hall
Pastie suppers down at Davey’s Chipper
Gravy rings, wagon wheels, barmbracks, snowballs.

A sense of wonder…

The next Post in this Series highlights five green-hued stones found on Gemstone Beach. An Index to this Series is here.