This Post provides quite a bit of detail about the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club’s Show and Open Day so that in the future I can read back about what I did and consider what worked. Too many things were going on for me to see, remember and describe everything that happened on the day and I apologise for what I missed and if I overlooked anyone. I neglected to take enough photos so most of the ones below are Chrissy’s from the Club’s Facebook Page or screen grabs from Chrissy’s video.
I timed my trip south to coincide with this event so that I could contribute. I have not been involved in a rock and mineral show before, though three or four years ago I visited the North Otago one in Oamaru. I left my accommodation in Papatotara just after 7.30am on a dark cold (four degrees) morning. The drive to Invercargill was punctuated by intermittent showers. I arrived at the show hall – Whare Taupua in Forth Street – around 9am to set up for the Show’s opening at 10am.
Chrissy took a video of the Show’s layout just after it opened – see here. There was a table at the hall entrance where a gold coin entrance fee was taken and a card handed out with images of things from six different tables. When a person found one of these images, the table holder punched their card. Once all six were identified and punched, the person could collect a small bag of Chrissy’s polished stones as their prize. My table’s image was a trace fossil rock with two large distinctive traces. The people at the entrance, Jenni, Gordon and George, also kept an eye on numbers – the first hour saw 125 visitors, with just over 450 coming through during the six hour event. Michelle and Rachel helped visitors arriving outside the building to find the right entrance.
In the small hall were ten tables organised by Club members, some being displays, some being competitions, some selling stone-related jewellery. At the first table, David had brought along rough and polished stones of different types from different places in Southland, all labelled in groups – I found myself wandering over there three or four times to have a pick up and look. He also had a pet rock in a cage.
Andrew had organised a quiz competition where people had to identify eight different minerals or rocks – for example, one was pumice, another was carnelian, there was some sulphur and another was amethyst. The prize was the winner’s choice of a nice-sized polished stone (again provided by Chrissy) from the Club table. Andrew also had a display of quite a few ventifacts (stones shaped and polished by wind-driven sand), mainly from Southland’s Tiwai Point and South Taranaki’s Waitotara. The display included information about the processes leading to their formation.
Next to Andrew was a table displaying and selling pendants crafted by Michelle of Deep South Pounamu (Mataura), assisted for the day by Amelia. Michelle had recently run a workshop for the Club, teaching attendees how to work with pounamu. I was pleased to finally meet Michelle in person after interacting with her a few times on Facebook about stone-related topics. Michelle also ran a draw for a toki pendant for anyone who visited her table. To her left was the Club table where prizes were collected, and fossils and lucky dips were sold. Tina and Sorsha looked after this area.
Next was Pauline with a display of petrified wood from her and Caleb’s collection as well as the collections of a couple of other members. Again, this was a table I was drawn to myself to have a look, especially at the Slope Point specimens. Kaleb was next-door with an unusual and very well laid-out display of (mainly) sea glass. Sea glass is weathered glass found on the coast, formed when discarded bottles and tableware are tumbled by waves and sand over a long period of time. As Wikipedia notes, collectors highly prize rare colours like red, orange, and purple alongside common shades like green, brown, and white. Pauline said to me quietly at one point, “You know, Kaleb and I had our first date on Gemstone Beach”.
Sam and Sarah had a table between Caleb and me. This featured jewellery crafted by Sam, the second of the three tables selling stone-related products. The third was on the other side of me, where items from Chrissy and Trevor were displayed and for sale, with Mike keeping an eye on them. Completing the circle was Chrissy’s display of tumble polishing. Central to this was a quiet working set of two small (3lb) barrels, a non-working 4lb barrel, and she also had a vibrating polisher which she occasionally turned on to demonstrate how noisy it was. Alongside were containers of the various grits and polish powder. There were some unpolished stones at one end of the table and some polished ones at the other end. Lots of people had questions about the process and the various options for getting a tumbler. Chrissy was kept very busy explaining everything.
Jenny and Rachel occasionally brought food and refreshments around to the tables and offered any extra assistance. Altogether, it was a significant Club effort from many members, and it paid off beyond expectations.
I had brought with me from Whanganui four lots of Gemstone Beach polished stones – the stones heading south again after I had brought them all the way north! The two main lots were trace fossil stones and banded rhyolite, the other two being hydrogrossular garnets and a “mixed” lot. I made sure the stones were of good quality and of varied sizes, and I also brought along some large unplolished specimens to display for comparison.
I had small information sheets (one-sixth of an A4 page) for each group of giveaway stones plus one for Gemstone Beach itself. Each sheet ended with a link to TumbleStone Blog for further information. They read as follows:
TRACE FOSSILS IN ARGILLITE FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: These trace fossils are the burrows or trails of tiny animals left in sediments at the bottom of the sea during the Permian Era more than 250 million years ago. They are found in argillite stones. Argillite is a mudstone, a fine-grained sedimentary rock, one of the main basement rocks of New Zealand. Lots of argillite stones can be found on Gemstone Beach, many of them containing trace fossils. Known locally as “fossil worm casts”, the traces come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. When tumble polishing these stones, a light touch is needed to preserve the traces on the surface. For more on trace fossils, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2025/11/27/tumblestone-calendar-2026-july-trace-fossils-in-argillite.
BANDED RHYOLITE FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: Rhyolite is a volcanic igneous rock with a very high silica content. It is the volcanic equivalent of granite which is formed underground. Depending on the nature of its emergence, rhyolite can also take the form of ignimbrite (dense ash), obsidian (glassy) or pumice (spongy). These stones are the most common form of rhyolite on Gemstone Beach, a very dark brown with thin light brown bands and small light-coloured crystals. They are also found further east on the Southland coast at Riverton Aparima and Slope Point. These stones tumble polish well because of their glassy nature. For more information on rhyolite, and disagreements about what this stone might be, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2023/11/22/november-2023-polished-stones-stone-of-the-day-22.
HYDROGROSSULAR GARNETS FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: Hydrogrossular garnet is perhaps the most sought-after stone on Gemstone Beach. It is a non-crystalline type of garnet, having been formed as a dense mass, not a crystal. The addition of water to grossular garnet gives rise to the hydrogrossular variety. It was identified for the first time in the world by a New Zealander in 1943. The purer forms are translucent, the rest often being opaque. Colour varies, depending on what other minerals are mixed in. Rough hydrogrossular garnets usually feel waxy and shine brightly when wet. They polish easily. For more on hydrogrossular garnets, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2022/06/02/ts2-hydrogrossular-garnet.
MIXED POLISHED TUMBLESTONES FROM GEMSTONE BEACH: These stones represent some of the great diversity that can be found on Gemstone Beach. They include sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic stones, and have been brought down by the Waiau River from the Fiordland mountains. Colours vary as do the small veins, marks and patterns seen in them. After found as sea-worn smooth on the beach, they have been tumble-polished in a small rubber barrel constantly for between five and seven weeks with grit that smooths them further then with powder that puts a shine on them. For an explanation of 30 mixed polished Gemstone Beach stones, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2025/05/14/thirty-gemstone-beach-pebbles-for-doug-stones-1-to-5.
GEMSTONE BEACH: This beach lies 70 kms west of Invercargill, with the mountains of eastern Fiordland in the background. It is on the Te Waewae Bay coast, on the shores of Foveaux Strait. The name “Gemstone Beach” most narrowly applies to a 250 metre stretch in front of the carpark opposite the “Gemstone Beach” sign just west of Orepuki. Even when sand covers the carpark beach area, the stretch that runs from there to the mouth of the Waimeamea River, 1.5 kilometres to the northwest, is nearly always covered in stones. There is a great diversity of colourful and patterned stones here, mainly brought down to the coast by the Waiau River. For more on Gemstone Beach, see https://tumblestoneblog.com/2022/06/02/ts2-gemstone-beach.
I had also prepared five signs, mounted in photo frames that could be stood up on the table. The main one stated:
FREE!
PICK A STONE TO TAKE HOME
POLISHED STONES FROM GEMSTONE BEACH
Feel free to look through these stones
The other signs briefly described the different lots of stones. The stones themselves were placed in paper plates so that people could look through them. I regularly refreshed the plates with new stones. I started out by having the trace fossils and banded rhyolites on the table. Eventually, I ran out of these and so replaced them with the other two lots. I didn’t count how many stones I gave away but I think it would have been well over 100. Just as well I brought a lot with me – I initially thought I had overdone it by bringing so many but that turned out not to be the case.
It was the school holidays. Lots of families with young children came along. Often the hall was packed, the visitors able to move only slowly from table to table. This intensity only really eased for the last half hour. The children loved picking out a stone to take away. I often had a parent say to me, “At home, this kid is always turning up with a pocketful of stones!” Many had been out to Gemstone Beach and were certainly planning to go again. I got the chance to chat briefly with two people who are regular readers of TumbleStone Blog.
There were a few keys to the success of the Show. Foremost was the planning, organisation and many contributions by Chrissy, the Club Secretary. Then the members who organised tables were all enthusiastic, knowledgeable, friendly and supportive to others. There were a few important “helpers” who quietly pitched in to do what was needed and to offer assistance. Well done, everyone!
The next Post in this Series is on a Gemstone Beach fossick the next day. An Index to the Series is available here.
It was a brilliant day, far exceeding our expectations and a lot of fun showing and talking about something all of the club members are passionate about – rocks! It’s a joy to be a part of such a cool club and to do something like this for the public! We loved seeing the delightful smiles on faces when giving away stones!