A Blog About Stone Gathering, Tumbling and Polishing, and Rocks and Landscapes, from New Zealand – With Musical Interludes (john.tumblestone@gmail.com)
This morning I spent two hours fossicking along the Te Waewae Bay coast starting at Gemstone Beach.
Gemstone Beach in front of the carpark when I started this morning.
Gemstone Beach in front of the carpark as I was returning just after noon.
The weather was warmer than its has been lately, though the tide was coming in so I had to take care with the waves. It turned out not to be a very productive time today, and I ended up bringing only 32 stones back with me. Just before I reached the Waimeamea River, I met up with Owen from Riverton fossicking with his wife – he showed me some of the hydrogrossular garnets he was finding. I found only three small nice ones this morning. However, I did find a large “roughie” – a stone that is not at all smooth – that may a hydrogrossular garnet, a variety that sometimes is called the “mother rock”. It’s quite glassy yet rough, and I initially thought it may be quartz. However closer inspection leads me to believe it is an example of a Type 7 stone in my classification of types of hydrogrossular garnet in my TumbleStone Two Post.
The second “roughie” I picked up looks like it may be a kind of yellow quartzite, not something I often find on this beach.
Despite not finding much, I did find another small poppy jasper and a nice pink thulite.
The four most interesting of my remaining finds this morning:
I got a surprise when I reached the lagoon of the Waimeamea River – it was dry! Maybe the river had breached the stone banks through to the sea further up the beach. I fossicked along the dry lagoon bed but didn’t find anything worthwhile mainly because dry stones don’t show any colour or patterns.
The dry lagoon of the Waimeamea River today. The river first emerges at the coast way up at the most distant of the cliffs facing us.
Waimeamea River lagoon three days ago.
Looking back from the dry lagoon bed at the little hill I took the previous photos from.
Dry stones, on the lagoon bed.
Thenext Partdescribes a Gemstone Beach fossick with a friend. The Series Index is here.
This afternoon’s fossick with Chrissy along the Te Waewae Bay coast, starting at Gemstone Beach, yielded a few more nice finds. My favourite was a large pink thulite, seven centimetres long.
A close second was a small poppy (orbicular) jasper, just under three centimetres long .
This gorgeous dark red jasper is just as nice!
I found this stone which has a complex composition:
And this stone, perhaps a mudstone, exhibits offset stress fractures within it, a good example of this type:
And a few more I found today:
Maybe amygdaloidal – a volcanic rock with tiny air bubbles that have been infilled with minerals.
The dark green stripes caught my eye.
A small greenie.
Thenext Partdetails a fossick that produced fewer stones but still some interesting ones, plus a surprise at the Waimeamea River lagoon. The Series Index is here.
Today on Gemstone Beach, during my usual fossick (three hours long, from the carpark to the Waimeamea River and back), I started off in light rain but finished in sunshine. It was 12 degrees when I started off at 11am, a bit warmer when I finished. At times I had a look for stones at the back of the beach, near the cliffs. However, there had been some cliff crumbling recently and I took care to check the steep slope above me (there is a sign in the carpark warning about the cliffs). Halfway through my fossick, I had a chat to a man from Winton who had not visited the beach before.
Rain clouds above Gemstone Beach in front of the carpark today. Close to high tide.
Large sections of this strip of the coast have lots of stones to walk over.
The crumbling cliffs at the back of the beach.
Part of a crumbling cliff.
I saw more hydrogrossular garnets on the beach than yesterday, though no large ones. I came across lots of trace fossil stones. I also found quite a few colourful and patterned stones, good for tumble polishing, including a bright red jasper (or is it a quartzite??), a dark green quartzite and a “pinkie” (probably thulite).
This bright red jasper (brecciated, with quartz) stood out on the beach. Other red jaspers there tend to be darker.
Gorgeous green quartzite, with translucent quartz veins.
Pink stone, probably thulite.
Below are three of the trace fossil argillite stones I found today. In the first two, the trace is darker than the host rock, which is unusual. In the third one, the traces are lighter and often quite faint.
Trace fossil stone.
Trace fossil stone.
The trace fossils in this stone are often quite faint.
The next stone is a very unusual one, with its two sides being quite different and yet both being fascinating.
One side of this stone has these tiny light wavy lines.
The other side contains an interesting pattern and some brecciated inclusions.
Eight of the other stones I collected today:
The first stone I found today, on the edge of the Taunoa Stream, not far from the carpark.
Tiny white crystals.
Light coloured spotted argillite is my guess for this one.
Iron oxide and quartz??
I like the subtle distribution of dark red and white.
This stone is brighter in colour in person. Maybe a quartzite??
Interesting “spots”.
A variety of quartz/quartzite?? I appreciate the tiny detailed pattern.
The green mineral in this stone is epidote, I think.
Perhaps the nicest of the hydrogrossular garnets I found today.
Some of the stones I left on the beach:
The TumbleStoneTwo home page for Gemstone Beach is here.
Gemstone Beach and the Waimeamea River. Source: Mapcarta.com.
Gemstone Beach. Source: Google Maps.
Waimeamea River lagoon. Source: Mapcarta.com.
The next Part of this Series features a large pink thulite and a small red poppy jasper – see here. The Series Index is here.
Further west, the Waimeamea River lagoon – the river is currently cut off from the sea, with the occasional wave depositing a little foam which the wind blows into the lower right corner.
Yesterday was wet and windy so I did not venture out onto the beach. Today was still windy but at least the rain stayed away (mostly). It was partly cloudy so the sun came out to shine on the stones at times. I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 10.30 am at high tide, the temperature being 11 degrees. I had to wear my woollen hat, scarf, thick jersey and wind-resistant coat today. The storm had whipped up some foam that in places lay thick. Quite a few campervans and tourists were here again today, despite the cold blustery conditions, but they did not venture far from the carpark.
Gemstone Beach stones.
I had a brief chat with a gentleman from Cumbria, England, who had picked up a handful of stones. After I had crossed the Taunoa Stream, I looked back to see someone slip as a wave roared up the beach – she got wet and lost some dignity but was otherwise ok. A few minutes later I looked up from the stones to see a small startled seal pup escaping into the foamy water – probably resting up onshore from the storm.
I startled this little seal. I was focussing on the stones then picked up movement. By the time I got my camera out, it was into the foam.
The seal pup looking back at me from the maelstrom of the breakers.
The seal pup waving goodbye…
During my two hour fossick down to the Waimeamea River and back, I collected about 40 diverse stones for tumble polishing, including a couple of impressive trace fossils and a large hydrogrossular garnet. Here are some of my finds:
Trace fossil in argillite.
Nice long trace fossil.
Large hydrogrossular garnet.
Black and white stone wearing green lace.
A variety of quartz.
I had to look carefully at this stone for a few minutes before I worked out that this stone is mainly hematite.
Very complex composition.
Small red spotted argillite.
It was 14 degrees when I finished two hours later.
The next Part of this Series, “A Red, a Green and a Pink”, is here. The Series Index is here.
I spent 3½ hours on Gemstone Beach this morning. I walked west along the Te Waewae Bay coast to just past the Waimeamea River. It was cloudy with a light breeze.
Looking west from Gemstone Beach this morning.
The waves have a lot of energy in them.
There are large areas of very tiny stones.
There are also large areas of larger stones.
The cliff in front of the old house has slowly been eroding. This photo was taken today.
A year ago when the cliff was less eroded.
I saw a lot less hydrogrossular garnets, no poppy jaspers, no sapphires, but I found a few interesting coloured and patterned stones for tumble polishing when I get back home in late March.
Interesting brecciated jasper, I think. It stood out brightly.
I really like the lace-like patterns in stones like this.
Amygdaloidal stone, I think. Really nice colours.
The tiny wavy white veins caught my eye.
More interesting colours.
The brown “spots” stand slightly higher than the white material here. One suggestion is that this could be a metamorphosed rhyolite.
In the carpark upon my return, I met with Vern and Maggie from Te Anau and the “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”Facebook Group. They had brought some of their gorgeous Gemstone Beach finds along to show me. A large deep-green hydrogrossular garnet found recently by Vern was especially noteworthy.
Vern’s gorgeous green hydrogrossular garnet.
I am glad I didn’t miss them, and their stones were excellent examples of what can be found on Gemstone Beach and nearby.
Part 5 in this Series, including an encounter with a young seal at a stormy Gemstone Beach, is here. The Series Index is here.
I visited Gemstone Beach, Orepuki, this morning for three hours. Chrissy Lampitt, who lives further west along the coast at Papatotara, joined me – her tumbling blog is called Tumble and Polish.
Looking east over the Taunoa Stream towards the carpark, soon after arriving on the beach.
Arriving back at the end of the fossick. There were always a good number of people in front of the carpark most of today.
Waimeamea River mouth/lagoon, the point at which we turned around. Lots of stones!
Chrissy fossicking near the Waimeamea River.
It was an eventful fossick. The highlight was meeting a fellow fossicker who showed us a blue Gemstone Beach sapphire that he had just found (this is Chrissy’s Post about the sapphire). I have never found one myself and have been wondering if any of these elusive stones were still around. Seeing it, and being able to recognise it straight away, has given me confidence that if I came across one I would know what it is. See this Post for some background on Gemstone Beach sapphires.
Gemstone Beach sapphire, found by another fossicker. Photo from the phone of Chrissy Lampitt.
Only one small poppy jasper turned up, but we found some impressive trace fossil stones. The day was cloudy and when I took photos of my finds back at my accommodation, it was difficult to avoid intrusive reflections.
The small poppy jasper I found.
Trace fossil in argillite.
Another trace fossil stone.
Trace fossils. Chrissy found this stone and gave it to me.
Chrissy and I found a number of nice hydrogrossular garnets, including a couple of reasonably big ones. Other fossickers we met today were also finding some good ones.
A nice dark brown hydrogrossular garnet, the biggest I found this morning. I gave it to Chrissy.
Nice white and yellow hydrogrossular garnet.
Another hydrogrossular garnet.
A variety of banded argillite.
An interesting little stone.
Attractive crystals in an igneous stone.
In general today, there was a little more sand and less stones than often is the case along this part of Te Waewae Bay. However, lots and lots of stones nevertheless are present, offering a diversity of treasures. The TumbleStoneTwo home page for Gemstone Beach is here.
Gemstone Beach and the Waimeamea River. Source: Mapcarta.com.
Gemstone Beach. Source: Google Maps.
The next Part of this Series, featuring a large green hydrogrossular garnet found previously by another fossicker, can be found here.The first Part can be found here.The Series Index is here.
I spent about 90 minutes this morning at Kakanui’s Seadown Beach, walking across large areas of sand to patches of stones.
Seadown Beach today, from the carpark. Looking south.
A lone patch of stones up this end of the beach
Some 350 to 400 metres north of the carpark, a few patches of stones, February 2024.
The seal I spotted in the distance before I turned back.
South of the the beach today. Sand has been piled up here.
The same rock two years ago, surrounded by stones.
Sand piled up against the back of the south end of the beach, today. Very few stones in this area.
The same general area two years ago. The level of the stones is a lot lower.
It was a worthwhile fossick, finding some nice quartzites and jaspers especially.
Interesting little quartzite with its white flash.
A nicely shaped quartzite.
A quartzite with some tiny clear quartz pieces.
The whitest of this kind of quartzite that I have found.
I made it about 400 metres north of the carpark before I turned back, spotting a seal just a bit further on.
Interesting little jasper, with some brecciation and some hematite.
Some of the red jaspers here have interesting green veins.
I then drove south and arrived in Riverton Aparima about 5.30 pm. Tomorrow morning I will be visiting Gemstone Beach at Orepuki. See this Post for an account of this visit.
The next Part in this Series, on my first fossick at Gemstone Beach, is here. The first Part can be found here.The Series Index is here.
It’s been nine months since I last visited South Island beaches. So I am on my way south again. These days, I play this piece of music when starting a trip.
Time has come to go Pack your bags, hit the open road Our hearts just won’t die It’s the trip keeps us alive…–
I left Whanganui last Monday morning, nearly four days ago. First stop after the Cook Strait ferry was Ward Beach on Tuesday morning where I spent an hour just after high tide. It being summer, there were quite a few campers there, mainly camper-vans. There were also some dolphins in the bay in front of the carpark.
Looking south from Ward Beach in front of the carpark.
Looking back towards the carpark and the campers.
Flaxbourne River mouth – hardly any flow (it comes in from the right) and cut off from the sea.
How fishing boats are launched here.
When I arrived, these people were looking at the dolphins.
Quick glimpse of a couple of dolphins.
The Hectors dolphin typical dorsal fin.
I didn’t wander far on the beach but picked up a few interesting stones before hitting the road again.
Ward Beach stone. Maybe limestone with veins of quartz or chalcedony??
Similar stone, but with some dendrites.
Photographed dry, this is an intriguing stone with numerous tiny white crystals.
I find it hard to resist these trace fossil stones.
I visited two beaches on Wednesday. I stopped off first at Timaru South, at the end of Scarborough Road. I spent just over an hour walking south towards the lighthouse and back.
Looking north towards Timaru city.
Looking south, the part of the beach I walked along.
Some recent anti-erosion work.
I turned back well before the lighthouse.
Again, I found a few interesting stones, though most had been bashed about a bit – the resulting chips provide a challenge for the tumble polisher.
Very interesting quartzite!
Some gorgeous green stones appear on this beach.
Quartzite.
Small jasper.
Another quartzite.
A “spotty” stone.
On Wednesday afternoon I arrived in Kakanui, having driven 850 kiolometres from home, and spent some time at Seadown Beach. It has changed significantly since I was last here nine months ago. Large amounts of sand have been heaped up and most of the stones have been covered. I was there at a very low tide and there were scatterings of wet stones along the waves’ edge.
Seadown Beach in front of the parking area, February 2024 – a massive mound of sand.
The same beach two years ago.
The scattering of stones along the wave edge at Seadown Beach, February 2024..
To the south of the parking area, looking north, February 2024 – these rocks are usually inaccessible. The tide was very low.
I was especially alert for two types of stones here – the hard brown ones that contain bryozoa fossils and the softer lighter-coloured ones that I call “fossilised seafloor” stones. I found one of the former, a few of the latter, as well as some nice quartzites and jaspers.
Small stone with tiny bryozoa fossils.
One of the fossilised seas-floor stones.
Interesting quartzite.
Quartzite, I think.
Small dark jasper.
I also visited the beach further south of Kakanui to check out what stones were now to be found there, with some success.
I woke up on Thursday with two problems. My calf muscles were very sore from all the walking in soft sand I had done the previous day, and my mobile phone needed replacing. So I drove back to Timaru to sort the phone, and then rested up in the afternoon back in Kakanui instead of doing more fossicking.
For more information on Ward Beach, see here: on Timaru South, see here; on Kakanui’s Seadown Beach, see here.
The next Part of this Series is here. The Series Index is here.
Today I got the chance to fossick on a part of the beach to the west of the Waiau River. The Waiau flows into Te Waewae Bay about 12 kilometres to the west of Gemstone Beach (see maps below). The Bay is located on the coast of Foveaux Strait, Southland, and its long sweep is 27 kms in length. It stretches from Monkey Island in the southeast (the location of a freedom camping site) to its far end (beyond the start of the Hump Ridge Track) in the northwest. Gemstone Beach is located towards the southeast end, about 7 kilometres from Monkey Island. The Waiau River is roughly in the middle.
Te Waewae Bay setting. Source: Google Maps.
Locations on the coast of Te Waewae Bay. Base Map = Google Maps.
“The Cliffs Seaside Lodge” is part of The Cliffs rural subdivision where Chrissy lives. Source: Google Maps.
For more on Te Waewae Bay from a fossicker’s point of view, see this TumbleStoneTwo Post.
Chrissy lives at The Cliffs, Papatotara, an interesting rural subdivision of smallholdings. She learned much of her tumble polishing from my blog about a year ago. She invited me to a fossick on the beach below her home and I was very pleased to accept. After a great cup of coffee and much comparing of polished stones, Chrissy, Ohla (her dog) and I spent a couple of hours on the beach. There were lots of stones there, though not quite the diversity of Gemstone Beach and just a little less smooth than most Gemstone Beach material. They reminded me a lot of the kind of stones to be found on the beaches of Riverton Aparima. There is a little carpark near the entrance to The Cliffs and visitors can walk through a paddock to the beach from there.
Chrissy and I had a companionable fossick, comparing and discussing our finds. I passed a number of trace fossil stones to her. We found a small number of what I would call “low grade” hydrogrossular garnets, the white variety with black inclusions, but no others. Thank you, Chrissy and Ohla, for a very pleasant time!
My host Chrissy and her bag of finds – Ohla has just hopped into the back of the vehicle.
Chrissy and Ohla on the beach below The Cliffs, Papatotara.
Ohla and the cliffs of The Cliffs.
Looking west towards the mountains of southeastern Fiordland.
Looking east towards a far Gemstone Beach. Pahia Hill in the distance to the right, the anchor of the eastern end of Te Waewae Bay.
Another view east.
Stones of The Cliffs beach.
Stones and foam. The Cliffs beach, Papatotara.
All of the stones I collected today from The Cliffs beach.
This Post features seven of the stones I collected today. The largest is a breccia, with maybe jasper making up most of the fragments.One of the medium-sized stones is black and white – quite a few variations of this colour combination were on the beach.
The next stone is an intriguing one. One one side it kind of looks like quartzite. On the other side, it appears to be a quite plain dark sedimentary stone. I have found stones like this before, often white on the “colourful” side – having the dark sedimentary backing seems to give the “colourful” side more intensity.
The final four: Chrissy found the first one, which contains some nice pink hues, maybe thulite, and she kindly gave it to me. Next is another of the black and white stones I picked up, this one because of the snowflake-like white spots. The last stone below, with intense white opaque crystals, was spotted by me just as a wave flowed over it – I patiently waited for the wave to recede and found the stone still in the same spot.
Some pink thulite in here?
Snowflakes!
I had to “rescue” this one from the waves.
Many thanks to Chrissy for the fossick and conversation, and the coffee.
The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is called “Delightful Discoveries, Desperate De-pants-ing, and Dramatic Drenchings on Gemstone Beach”. The first Post in the Series is hereand the Index to the Series is here.
I have been back home in Whanganui over the past three weeks (late February to mid-March). During this time, I often visited the nearby Kai Iwi Beach to walk our new puppy, Jasper.
Following Jasper down to the bridge over the Kai Iwi Stream.
On the beach north of the Kai Iwi Stream. Notice how few stones there are!
South of the Kai Iwi Stream.
Small stack of harder clay in the distance.
At a stack even further south.
Jasper on Kai Iwi Beach.
The wet Kai Iwi Beach stones from a 4lb barrel after a 220 grit tumble. The reddish-pink reflections are from the shirt I was wearing when I took the photo (which was taken indoors).
Kai Iwi Beach is well known for its fossils. However, as a tumble polisher of stones, I am more interested in smooth-worn beach pebbles than fossils. Though there are very few stones on the beach, I usually managed to collect a few each walk. Most are what I think are iron-stained quartz, though there is quite a variation among them. I managed to put some through a 220 grit stage in a 4lb barrel (9 days tumbling). This Post features 12 of the stones from that tumble. Some context and background on Kai Iwi Beach and its stones can be found in this TumbleStone Post.
The first two stones appear to be breccia:
Breccia stone, Kai Iwi Beach.
Other side of stone.
Another breccia stone?
Other side of stone.
Four of the mainly orange hued stones:
Interesting texture.
This stone has the small clear pieces of quartz I often find in quartzite stones on other beaches.
Six stones with darker patterns:
Some fine black veins.
Upper half dark.
Suggestion of dark waves.
Thank you, Jasper, for the fossicking opportunities!
