Category: Beach Stones

My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 2: Gemstone and Fossil Museum

On my first day at Birdlings, I had seen the sign for the Museum so decided to visit it at the start of Day 2 of my visit. I had seen references to it online, where it was described as a private rock collection open to the viewing public.  One community information site added: “The display is mostly Canterbury material gathered from the rivers and hills, agate, quartzite, jasper, petrified woods etc, of which after many years would have all ended up on the beach at Birdlings Flat.” Another site stated:  “The Gemstone and Fossil Museum was opened in February 2003 by Vince and Colleen Burke and their children, who collected the many kinds of gemstones off Birdlings Flat Beach over 34 years. The collection has grown to include fossils collected since 2002, mostly from Amberley Beach to Kaikoura.” Vince is quoted in a 2012 North & South article on the Little River area as saying, “My wife wanted me to get everything out of the lounge” when they decided to live permanently at Birdlings Flat, sometime after his retirement as a builder in 2003.

The Museum is located at the end of Hillview Road at Birdlings Flat, a narrow road crowded on both sides by holiday homes and residences. Going in the gate, I found myself in a large courtyard to the left of which was the Museum building. A sign said to blow the horn on the wall, so I did, and Vince appeared and opened up. Inside is possibly the best laid-out and presented display of rocks and fossils that I have ever seen, a testament not only to the Burke family’s passion for stones and fossils but also to Vince’s intelligent ordering and labeling of the material being presented.

My favourite corner contained the petrified wood, agates and quartzites.

Petrified wood:

Agate stones:

Quartzite and rhodonite:

Perhaps more than half of the displays are of large colourful agates, most of them found by Vince himself in different parts of Canterbury:

One wall has a display of agates and rocks from different parts of New Zealand. Entry to the Museum is free, though donations are welcome, and you can purchase your own stones, rough or polished, to take away with you:

Vince graciously showed me around and shared some of the stories associated with various stones, especially the large colourful agates. He helped me to identify some of the stones I had been collecting recently. I bought some petrified wood and agate stones on the way out, and Vince then showed me around his workshop which contains his large homemade tumblers, vibratory vats, and cutting saws. All in all, an overwhelming and amazing experience.

Birdlings Flat Gemstone and Fossil Museum is open every day, 9.30 am to 5 pm, except when Vince is away rockhounding.  

See also “Another Visit to Birdlings Flat, Late June 2016 – Part Two: Birdlings Flat Gemstone Museum Again”.

January 2024, Article in Otago Daily Times about Vince’s desire to sell the Museum “Rock collection faces uncertain fate”.

   

My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 1 of 2

Last week I visited Birdlings Flat. The weather and tide were very good. Even though it is just about winter, the temperatures were in the mid-20s (centigrade) due to a strong warm north-westerly wind. And the tide was going out, meaning that wet stones were accessible at the tide-line. Some cars were parked partly on the beach but I didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the loose stones so stayed up near the road. The walk to the sea is across about 300-400 metres of stones, mostly greywacke it seems, and sometimes sorted into different sizes by natural processes – a patch of larger stones is followed by a band of smaller stones. There were a couple of people fishing from the beach, a couple sitting and watching the waves, and a photographer tramped the stones near the eastern end. A motor-cyclist went up and down the beach a bit further west, but otherwise it was a very quiet scene.

The parking area at Birdlings Flat
This is the area, near the eastern end of the beach, where most of the stone-hunters spend their time
Looking downwards while crossing towards the tide-line
Looking westwards upon arrival
Getting closer to the east end, where the beach gets steeper towards the surf
The beach is wide and stony
Looking eastwards upon arrival

When I reached the tide-line, I spent about 3 1/2 hours walking initially westwards along the beach before turning back and walking eastwards. I had intended to reach the cliffs at the east end but gave up before I got there as I had collected quite a few stones already, my backpack was getting heavy, and I knew I would be coming back the next day. Late afternoon, before heading back to Christchurch for the evening, I drove down Bayleys Road which runs along Kaitorete Spit. After about 9-10 kilometres, there is a beach access track. I spent about 30-40 minutes on the beach there, scanning for more stones. Here there is more sand and less stones but still some excellent pickings are possible.

Driving down Bayleys Road, along Kaitorere Spit
At the beach access half-way along Kaitorete Spit, looking eastwards towards Banks Peninsula and the Birdlings Flat beach I had just left
Looking westwards – many fewer stones but still well worth a fossicking walk

I ended up with about 8 kilograms of stones.

Some of the stones I collected.
More of the stones I collected.
The most beautiful stone I found, probably quartzite.
I didn’t realise it at the time but this is one of the famous agate stones that can be found at Birdlings Flat. This one is cubic and banded.

See also My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 2: Gemstone and Fossil Museum and My Visit to Birdlings Flat, Day 2: Stone Collecting.

Stones in the Process of Tumbling

These stones have undergone the first stage of tumbling with 100 grade silicon carbide grit. Most of them are from Riverton beaches, in Southland, but a couple are from the West Coast of the South Island (New Zealand). Some will need more tumbling in this coarse grit because they still have small pits or scratches not yet smoothed away.

“The Pebbles on the Beach” by Clarence Ellis (1954/1965)

This book was first published in 1954 (this paperback edition appeared in 1965) but in many ways it is the best book I have so far encountered on the topic of beach stones. It is 20 cm by 13 cm and has 163 pages. Published by Faber and Faber of London, it deals with beach pebbles in the UK but most of its content is relevant to many other localities. This is particularly so of the first four chapters about the beach processes that shape pebbles and the different kinds of  pebbles.

There are four colour plates of stones with accompanying interpretive diagrams labeling and describing each stone. Many of these stones can be found in New Zealand too. 

I bought this book for NZ$26 (including postage) through Amazon, and it came from Langdon e-traders, a UK charity business established in 2014 to employ and support young men and women with disabilities. 

The Sound of Stones Tumbling on the Beach

“…The chatter of the pebbles as they tumble against one another… A beach is a strip of loose material at the water’s edge, a collection of sand and stones assembled, disassembled, and reassembled by the sea. On the geologic time scale, it is ephemeral. And for most stones, the beach is just the latest stop on a journey that began eons ago.” [Margaret Carruthers, “Beach Stones” (with photos by Josie Iselin), 2006, page 7]

I took some video clips during my recent visit looking for stones on Otago and Southland beaches. This movie (below) shows two of the stony Southland beaches on which I spent some time. The first one is the “Back Beach” as I know it, but it is also known more officially as Howells Point Beach, at Riverton. This beach is 90% stony and lies straight across Foveaux Strait from Stewart Island – usually a wild beach with powerful surf, the day I was there it was very calm (though the day was wet, cool and gray). The second beach featured on this movie is Tihaka Beach on Colac Bay, at the far eastern end of the Bay. This is a long stony beach, and the surf was a little stronger than at the Back Beach. So it was particularly at Tihaka Beach that you could hear the stones being tumbled as the waves came in and then receded. Stone tumblers mimic this action and intensify it.

Gabriel’s Stone: A Musical Meditation

I picked this stone up at Riverton and then rejected it – I thought the “rust” in it was unsightly. My wife saw its promise and tumble polished it in her first ever batch. I think it is worthy of its own tune and name…

“Gabriel’s Oboe” is from the movie “The Mission”.

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The scene featuring this tune from the movie, The Mission, with Jeremy Irons as Father Gabriel:

“The Mission” is rated among my top ten movies. It is about the clash between Jesuit missionaries and European slave traders in South America in the 18th century, about friendship and betrayal, the plight of indigenous people, greed and evil and forgiveness and redemption. It is spectacular, sumptuous, enlightening, provocative, disturbing and challenging.

Pre- and Post-100 Grit

When collected from a Riverton beach, stones are already rounded and smooth from hundreds of years of natural tumbling. When wet, the stones reveal their polishing potential – polishing brings out the colours more intensely and fixes their shine. 

Below are photos of Riverton stones before going into the barrel with 100 size silicon carbide grit, the first stage of tumbling, and after four days in the of tumbling (they then go back for another three or four days to complete the first stage of the smoothing process):

Beach Stones, The Raw Material

Beach stones are great for the tumble polisher. Compared to stones found in the ground, and in streams and rivers, beach stones tend to be rounder and smoother, and so are easier to polish. When wet, as they often are, their colours and patterns are clearly to be seen. On beaches with stones, there is usually a great diversity of types of stones within a relatively small area, minimising the time and effort when collecting them. 

Colac Bay, Southland NZ
Colac Bay
Riverton
Riverton
Riverton
Riverton
Back Beach, Howell’s Point, Riverton
Back Beach, Howell’s Point, Riverton