A Blog About Stone Gathering, Tumbling and Polishing, and Rocks and Landscapes, from New Zealand – With Musical Interludes (john.tumblestone@gmail.com)
Yesterday was quite stormy, with a lot of wind and rain, so I didn’t go out fossicking. Instead, I spent some time catching up with blog Posts. Today I ventured out again, driving the 30 kilometres to Orepuki, and I spent three hours on Gemstone Beach and westwards. In some ways, this was the most productive of my fossicks here so far. It seemed like the stones had been given a good toss around by the storm-energised waves as I found more interesting ones than usual – more spots and bands and dashes of colours.
The scene as I left the beach, in front of the carpark. Snow-topped mountains in background
Looking across a still-energised set of waves.
The snow-topped mountains.
The scene in front of the carpark as I returned to the car.
Gemstone Beach stones today.
Some of my finds today were spectacular, this one in particular. I found it down near the Waimeamea River lagoon. The colour is unique amongst the stones I have found on this beach so far. I suspect it is a jasper, partly because it contains hematite. It is very smooth, almost perfectly so.
Side A of the stone.
Side B of the stone.
At the Waimeamea River lagoon, I climbed a small hill to take my usual photo and to check how full the lagoon was. A small outlet had formed, with the flow being about the same currently as the Taunoa Stream, back near the carpark.
The lagoon of the Waimeamea River today.
A small outlet for the lagoon has appeared.
I went over to the outlet and slowly walked down one side and up the other, looking for stones. This little red one caught my attention, a bright hematite orbicular jasper, also known as a poppy jasper:
A small red stone stood out brightly in the water.
The small poppy jasper.
Other dark red jaspers I found today, including two other poppies:
Another small poppy jasper.
Slightly bigger poppy jasper.
Very small but colourful jasper.
Other finds that are predominantly red or purple or pink, some of them with tiny white crystals:
Among the things that catch my attention on the beach are bands or veins or shapes that are lighter or darker than the rest of a stone:
The sediments turned into this banded argillite had been disturbed somehow and created interesting patterns.
Dark green epidote veins?
And sometimes spots, inclusions and quite tiny details make a stone worthy of collection:
Very unusual colour for this beach.
A type of spotted argillite?
A couple of grey spots caught my eye in this one.
The next Part in this Series includes a nice small mossy jasper found on Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.
I very nearly didn’t go to Gemstone Beach this morning. There was wind and rain overnight, and morning temperatures were cool. But I decided I would make use of my wet weather gear and headed out. I arrived at the carpark at 9.15 am, the temperature having risen slightly to nine degrees, with still some rain around. There was only one campervan parked up at the beach, and I passed the couple as I walked onto the beach. “It’s a cold morning!” was their greeting to me.
I left my camera and backpack in the car, thinking I might do a quick 30 minute fossick. The Taunoa Stream was higher than previously due to the overnight rain and I just made it to the other side, my waterproof leggings helping to keep water out of the top of my gumboots. There were plenty of stones in front of the carpark but the first 150 metres past the stream was predominantly sand, right to the foot of the cliffs. But then the stones appeared, most of them wet from the rain, the sun came out, and quite a few interesting finds appeared. The overnight storm had produced energetic waves that had given the stones a good tossing about, turning up a good range of types. I kept fossicking until I reached the mouth of the Waimeamea River at which point I turned back. I half-filled each of the two pockets in my raincoat. In the end, I was three hours on the beach.
Gemstone Beach and the Waimeamea River. Source: Mapcarta.com.
Waimeamea River lagoon. Source: Mapcarta.com.
Waimeamea River lagoon today – photo taken on phone.
It was amongst the best Gemstone Beach fossicks of the trip so far. One of the most gorgeous finds was this small stone with bright green mineral in it:
It has been suggested that the green might be a form of “chrome diopside” – I have explored this in another Post (yet to be published). The next find is a small but bright red jasper – the tiny swirling threads of red and orange against the dark hematite background is amazing:
Side A of small jasper.
Side B of small jasper. Mabe a little white chalcedony at bottom left.
My eye always seems to be drawn by the tiny scattering of orange in the following kind of stone:
Two brown hydrogrossular garnets I found today:
One of the two poppy jaspers I found:
I gave the other poppy jasper away. On the way back to the carpark at the end of my fossick, once I had forded the Taunoa Stream again, I walked past three people looking at stones. I saw a nice small hydrogrossular garnet so I picked it up and approached one of the group, explaining to her that it was a good example of a type of stone associated with this beach. It turned out that she was from the Czech Republic and had been in New Zealand for a few years. Her parents were visiting her and that morning they had come to Gemstone Beach. They were very interested in the stones so I also discussed with them specimens of poppy jasper and trace fossils that I had found, the daughter translating for her parents. I left them with a nice poppy jasper and a couple of larger hydrogrossular garnets. It was a good end to a good fossick.
I found a number of variations of trace fossil stones today, with large or small traces, of different colours and shapes:
A large well-defined protovirgularia shape trace.
Lots of tiny traces.
A large spotted argillite stone with some small traces.
The hint of a dark trace fossil in a light-coloured stone.
Trace fossils in a red stone.
And seven more of my finds:
Pink thulite.
Rhyolite.
I left my camera in the car, to avoid getting it wet in the rain. However, the rain stopped after about ten minutes and the sun came out. I took some photos on my phone:
A dark wet Gemstone Beach this morning when I arrived.
The backside of the cold front moving away.
The part of the beach that was mainly sand on the surface.
Not far along were lots of stones.
The TumbleStoneTwo home page for Gemstone Beach is here.
The next Part of this Series highlights more spectacular finds from a Gemstone Beach fossick. The Series Index is here.
I had a big day yesterday, visiting Slope Point, so I decided to have only an hour’s fossick at Gemstone Beach late this morning. The weather was good but the tide was low and the waves were wetting mainly smaller stones. I fossicked mainly in front of the carpark, not venturing past the Taunoa Stream. By the time I left there were probably about 30 people on the beach, most of them passing motorists and campers I suspect.
Below are photos of five of my best finds. The first caught my eye because of the tiny breccia in the central vein, the second because of the range of materials and patterns in it, and the third is a nice brown hydrogrossular garnet with an unusual white band:
The final two are a small grey pebble with some tiny inclusions and a jasper with intense green veins:
Part 18 in this Series features stones from a post-storm fossick on Gemstone Beach and a chat with three people from the Czech Republic. The Series Index is here.
Last year I had heard that a fossicker had been told that they could not cross private land to get to one of the Slope Point beaches. But I have also become aware that fossickers and fishers are still visiting one or more of these beaches. In preparation for a reconnaissance trip to check things out, I did some research on “unformed legal roads” (also known as “paper roads”) in New Zealand (see www.herengaanuku.govt.nz/types-of-access/unformed-legal-roads/ and the link there “How to find unformed legal roads”). Such “roads” are legally defined but have not been built. Their legal status means that the public can follow them as routeways even though they pass through farmland. New Zealand does not have the same kind of traditional system of public rights of way as England has, for example. And unformed legal roads are not well known to most New Zealanders.
The bay we were aiming for. From my 2023 Post.
The beach and stones of the bay. From my 2023 Post.
I discovered that the customary route to the beach I wanted to visit actually followedan unformed legal road for part of the way. And if needed, an extension of that road could be followed to the coast further along, though adding some distance to the customary route. So I decided to drive the 90 minutes to Slope Point late this morning, to arrive about an hour before low tide. I was accompanied by fellow fossicker Chrissy Hellyer, who had not looked for stones at Slope Point before. Her account of the fossick appears in her blog, under the heading “Rockhounding at Slope Point”.
Slope Point is the southernmost part of the South Island, located about 70 kilometres east of Invercargill. Tourists are directed to a carpark from where they can walk across a windswept paddock to the top of high rocky cliffs looking out over a wild sea. Fossickers for beach stones have to drive a couple of kilometres further along a narrow gravel road before crossing paddocks down awkward slopes to reach their goal.
When Chrissy and I arrived today, we saw the usual signposts warning about the need for four-wheel drive vehicles, but nothing else forbidding access. So we walked to the beach, following the customary routeway – this is described in this Post written in March 2023. I was later advised by a local that the beach we went to is still allowed to be accessed by rockhounds by walking down the track we had used. However, other beaches in the area cannot be accessed through private land, only by walking around the coastline.
The sea was very calm today – it is often quite rough, which is why the period before low tide is the best time for fossicking. The sun was out and it was a warm day. This beach contains a lot of granite stones, rhyolites, breccia and sometimes some petrified wood. Jocelyn Thornton’s booklet “Gemstones” has a page on Slope Point stones – see page 35 here. But there’s also lots of stones I don’t have the knowledge to identify. I thought that there were four of my finds worthy of close examination. The first below is one of the mystery ones to me, but it has some tiny areas of agate in it; the second is, I think, an orbicular rhyolite; the third is another mystery, its tiny colourful spots having caught my eye; and the fourth is a green coloured mystery stone with tiny white crystals and maybe some other stuff.
Eight more of my finds, all of which caught my eye because of their interesting colours, veins, spots or patterns.
Granite with quartz band.
Rhyolite.
Porphyry.
Rhyolite.
We spent a good couple of hours collecting stones, then it must have taken us at least 20 minutes to climb back up the hill with a heavy load to the car. Then it was another 90 minutes in the car back to Riverton. Exhausting, but well worth it!
Part 17 features a brief (60 minutes) fossick back at Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.
I spent 90 minutes at low tide at Gemstone Beach on Te Waewae Bay today. There was a lot more sand and stretches of tiny stones than previous days, but still lots of good-sized stones as I walked westwards.
Large stretch of sand just to the west of the carpark at Gemstone Beach.
Further west, a better selection of stones.
More larger stones appear as you get further west.
I collected 39 stones altogether. A number of them, like the first four below, are shades of green.
Interesting light-green “cloud” of mineral, probably epidote, in quartz.
A different hue of green, with opaque white.
Fingernail sized very small stone, great intense green!
Mudstone breccia.
Four more of today’s finds. I keep finding good specimens of trace fossil stones. I am always on the look out for a dark stone with dark traces and I found one today, the first of the four stones below. The second is a banded ignimbrite – I look for nice smooth specimens.
Dark coloured trace fossils.
Another quite small stone, a type of rhyolite, probably banded ignimbrite.
I am always attracted to stones with tiny white crystals.
Some interesting detail.
The next Part describes a fossicking trip to a Slope Point beach. The Series Index is here.
Found during a 90 minute fossick on Gemstone Beach, Te Waewae Bay, this afternoon – five of them are green or have significant amounts of green in them, all six have tiny details making them attractive and intriguing:
Lots of fine detail in this small stone!
Tiny white crystals!
Large white quartz band, green epidote mineral.
Attractive shades of blue-green.
Streaks of green.
Small breccia stone.
Part 14 is about music, beaches, and stones. The Series Index is here.
Today I visited Gemstone Beach a couple of hours after low tide. I made my way down to the Waimeamea River lagoon to see what state it was in. Again, the lower half of the lagoon was dry. I now think this part drains when it’s low tide and fills at high tide, the first time I have seen this phenomenon in about six years visiting this beach. And I think the water mainly seeps back and forth between the sea and the lagoon through the banks of stones.
Low tide, dry lagoon.
Succulents in an area behind the beach.
A white succulent flower.
In front of the carpark…
People sometimes leave stones here.
Climbing up to get the photo of the lagoon, I pass by a bed of low-lying succulents which today had produced a tiny white flower (see photo above). I posted a photo of it, along with some of my stones, on the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils” and a member commented: “Gentianella saxosa, seems to be exclusively found on Southland and Stewart Island beaches!”Also above are photos of a low concrete pillar in front of the Gemstone Beach carpark where people sometimes leave stones they have collected but decided not to take home. Occasionally I will leave trace fossil stones here, along with a few other colourful stones.
Below are four sets of photos relating to the finding of a stone. Each set shows the stone lying on the beach as I come across it, then a more close-up photo of the stone when spotted, followed by a photo taken later of the stone in sunlight, and finally a detailed close-up showing the texture and composition of the stone. The first is a kind of poppy (orbicular) jasper – I wasn’t sure it was a poppy jasper even when looking at it closely on the beach – only later looking at the close-up of its composition was I able to so identify it.
This kind of jasper is usually quite small but it stands out brightly when wet, when the waves wash up and down the beach. I also often specifically look for a flash of red when walking through the shallows of the Taunoa Stream and Waimeamea River lagoon. This one was found on the beach, just past the Taunoa Stream.
The second set of photos is of a banded argillite I spotted in the shallows of the Waimeamea lagoon:
Banded stones often catch my eye – the contrasting colours of the bands stand out.
The third set of photos is of a small light-brown hydrogrossular garnet spotted in a more sandy part of the beach.
This was on a wet patch of beach. The next set of photos illustrates how hydrogrossular garnets often stand out even when the beach is dry:
Among the other stones I found today was this gorgeous small black-and-white hydrogrossular garnet:
Finally, four other stones:
Probably argillite, maybe trace fossils??
Quartz and epidote.
Thenext Partin this Series features six small stones. The Series Index is here.
Today’s fossick at Gemstone Beach (Southland) was two hours long, in the afternoon immediately following high tide. The Waimeamea River lagoon was reasonably full when I reached it. I did some stone hunting along the middle part of the lagoon where the water was shallower and running like the river does normally. Leaving the waves meant meeting some sandflies for the first time this trip – they left some itchy bites on my hands and face.
Gemstone Beach and the Waimeamea River. Source: Mapcarta.com.
Waimeamea River lagoon. Source: Mapcarta.com.
Waimeamea River lagoon when I was there today.
At the middle of the lagoon’s length, where I fossicked also.
Gemstone Beach stones.
More Gemstone Beach stones.
Two of today’s most interesting finds:
Mainly quartz with black and green minerals.
Very interesting composition to this small stone.
The next stone could be a trace fossil one, but I am unsure. It’s very different from other trace fossil stones I have found but the markings in it could be traces (burrows). The close-up photos seem to me to indicate that it is a fine-grained mudstone which would be consistent with trace fossils.
One side of the stone.
Other side of the stone.
Another six stones that I collected this afternoon:
Very smooth pink and white stone with an interesting vein across the middle.
Very smooth fine-grained green stone, with light coloured inclusions.
Brecciated argillite.
Green epidote mineral.
Nice green hydrogrossular garnet.
Trace fossil in red mudstone.
Thenext Partfeatures stones and a small white flower. The Series Index is here.
I usually fossick at Gemstone Beach, and its extension along Te Waewae Bay, while the tide is going out. This minimises the chances of being caught by a wave and getting wet gumboots However, sometimes the timing of things means I fossick while the tide is coming in, as I did today. The waves were more energetic and moving faster and further up the beach than the previous few days, so I did get wet gumboots, despite being vigilant and trying hard to avoid it.
The weather was cool, windy and sometimes rainy this morning. I walked all the way to the mouth of the Waimeamea River in order to check out the drained lagoon I had noticed two days ago. It turns out that it was only half of the lagoon that was dry, and I noticed some “seepages” – areas where water from the lagoon was flowing beneath and through the barrier of stones to the sea. Maybe a little more water has been flowing through the seepages than has been coming down the river. I spotted a couple of pied shags (kāruhiruhi) on the bank of the lagoon there. On the way back, I was surprised to see the previously dry part of the lagoon seemed to be partially filled up again – half an hour made a big difference. Maybe the waves of the incoming tide were bringing some water in.
The lagoon at 10.11am, on my way west. Looking the same as two days ago.
The lagoon at 11.20am, on my way back. Not entirely sure where all the water came from – at least some of it could have come from the incoming tide.
A “seepage” – water flowing from the lagoon through the stones to the sea.
The two pied shags on the edge of the part of the lagoon that had water in it.
The waves were coming higher up the beach than the previous few days. This fellow fossicker and I were making sure we got back to the carpark before we were pushed up against the cliffs.
I had brief chats on the beach with two fossickers today, both times near the carpark. One was from Te Aroha in the Waikato, the other from Cromwell in Central Otago.
Two of my best finds today, both gorgeous – a small quartzite(?) and a small poppy jasper:
Small brecciated quartzite, I think.
Small poppy jasper.
Three green stones from my finds:
A range of nice green hues in this one.
Epidote in quartz?
Argillite, a kind of “turtle-back” pattern.
The best from the rest:
Interesting hydrogrossular garnet – transparent on left, opaque to right.
Maybe a quartzite?
Maybe a mudstone/argillite?
Part 11 in this Series is here. The Series Index is here.
This morning I spent two and a half hours on Gemstone Beach with Sascha Stoddart, a fellow fossicker from Timaru. In February 2022, I had joined Sascha and her friend Pauline on the Timaru South beach. Sascha sometimes turns her stone finds into pendants and other jewelry using wire wrapping. When we started, it was warm – 21 degrees – but windy, and rain was threatening. The rain eventually came for a while, and the wind got stronger especially on our way back to the carpark. The temperature had fallen to about 17 degrees at that stage. About one-third of the way through our fossick, I took some photos of a pair of paradise shelducks standing on the cliff at the back of the beach.
A couple of paradise shelducks on the cliff called out as we walked by.
Gemstone Beach at 10 am this morning. Rain is just visible in the far distance.
The rain gets closer.
The same scene as previously, the rain arrives.
Despite the wind and rain, we managed to find quite a few interesting stones. Sascha found a couple of small poppy jaspers.
One of Sascha’s small poppy jasper – photo taken on a rain-darkened beach.
Hematite is apparent in the stone.
Below are two small jaspers I collected:
Small bright dark-red jasper.
One side of a small jasper.
Other side of the same small red jasper.
Other stones I found this morning:
Epidote green, plus other material.
A variety of quartz/quartzite.
Small trace fossils in light coloured argillite.
Part 10, a Gemstone Beach fossick when the waves were bigger, can be found here.The Series Index is here.
