June-July 2026 South Island Trip – Part 9, A Sunday Afternoon on Gemstone Beach, Sunday 12 July

The day after the rather intense Southland Geological and Lapidary Club’s Show/Open Day, Chrissy and I headed out to Gemstone Beach for some fresh air and recreation. It was nine degrees and sunny when we arrived there at 2.30pm. Sixteen cars were in the carpark and lots of people were on the beach, though only one had ventured beyond the Taunoa Stream.

A busy beach, when we arrived.

Looking back shortly after we arrived.

When we returned two hours later, still a lot of people on the beach.

We spent just over two hours, walking down to the Waimeamea River and back. Normally it would have taken us a lot longer but the large areas of sand meant we made quick progress most of the time. 

Featured below are eight of the stones I collected this afternoon. The first is a dark red hematite jasper, the hematite being the silvery material within it:

Hematite jasper.

I found an amygdaloidal stone, possibly a basalt. Small gas bubble holes in it have been filled with a white mineral, maybe quartz:

Amygdaloidal stone.

For information on amygdaloidal stones, see Section 4 in this Post.

Next are two trace fossil stones. The first has some strong traces running along the surface, the second smaller stone has just one trace, a burrow emerging from within: 

Trace fossils in argillite.

Small argillite stone with a small trace fossil.

This much larger stone is a spotted argillite that may include some red trace fossils:

Spotted argillite, with trace fossils?

For more information on trace fossil stones in argillite, see Stone #10 in this Post.

An interesting little argillite that shows some displacement within it due to tectonic stress, called by some an earthquake stone:

Argillite earthquake stone.

I’m not sure what kind of stone this next one is, but I like the various tiny shapes it contains:      

Finally a small green stone with some subtle changes of hue within it:     

The coming week will be busy working on the completion of the final draft of the photo book on Gemstone Beach stones that Chrissy and I are producing.  

The next Post in this Series is about my final Gemstone Beach fossick for this trip, which took place a week later. An Index to the Series is available 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