The Introduction to this Calendar can be found here. This 2026 Calendar is for sale, with postage within New Zealand included, for $35 non-rural, $40 rural. Two Calendars to the same address cost $60 non-rural, $65 rural. Three Calendars to the same address cost $85 non-rural, $90 rural. Email me at john.tumblestone@gmail.com.
The month of March features six pink stones from three different beaches. The most common pink stones in the south of New Zealand are thulite and rhodonite. Their pink to purple colour comes from the presence of manganese. At times, the pink of thulite can be especially bright and intense.
Stone One (top row, left, in the Calendar’s month of March) is a small Papatotara Beach thulite, found in August 2025. There are small clouds of intense bright pink in it. The same type of stone can be found on Gemstone Beach, a few kilometres to the east.
Stones Four and Six (below) are similar in character. See Day Nine in “Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 9 and 10 (Gemstone Beach, Tihaka Beach, Garden Bay)” for the finding of a Gemstone Beach thulite. Thulite is the national gemstone of Norway where it was first discovered in 1820. It is the pink to reddish variety of the mineral zoisite. You can read more about it on Minerals.net, Wikipedia and Gem Adventurer. Some of the Gemstone Beach thulites I have found are much lighter in colour than Stone One – see “January 2022, Stone of the Day #5 – A Little Pinky”. In my experience, many of the brighter stones don’t tumble-polish well, coming out rough and non-shiny, while the lighter coloured variety often comes out much better.
I found Stone Two (top row, centre, in the Calendar) on Gemstone Beach 0n 19 March 2025. Its pink is less intense that that of Stone Two:
My guess at the time was that it is a thulite, but the darker material in it, as well as its lighter pink hue, could indicate it is rhodonite. See “August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 7, A Rhodonite Find on Gemstone Beach, Wednesday 6 August” for a Gemstone Beach rhodonite. Otago’s Akatore rhodonite is the best known in New Zealand.
Three days after I found Stone Two, I found Stone Three (top row, right, in the Calendar), also on Gemstone Beach, and again I wondered if it was rhodonite:
I am intrigued by the fine pink tracery in the stone as well as the small orange patch near the bottom centre.
Stone Four (bottom row, left, in the Calendar) was found on Papatotara Beach by my fossicking mate Chrissy when we were there in August 2025 – she generously gave it to me. It is a larger version of the kind of thulite that Stone One and Six are:
Stone Five (bottom row, centre, in the Calendar) has large areas of very light pink. I found it in March 2025 on a Riverton Aparima beach. I call the beach the Beach Past the Back Beach – it’s on Howell’s Point, accessed by a walk over the dunes from the end of the road – see this Post for the location.
Stone Six (bottom row, right, in the Calendar), I found on Gemstone Beach at the beginning of August 2025. As with Stones One and Four, it is a very good specimen of the type of thulite I find most attractive:
For April’s stones, see this Post.
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