Beach Stones – Page 8

Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 7 and 8 (Riverton’s Back Beach, Gemstone Beach)

Previous Posts have dealt with Days 1 to 4 and Days 5 and 6.

Day Seven, Tuesday 23 February – Visit to the Back Beach, Riverton (at Howell’s Point). I woke this morning with sore leg muscles from my long walks recently at Gemstone Beach so I didn’t go far today. The Back Beach is less than five minutes drive from my base in Taramea Bay and it’s a relatively small beach.

The Back Beach is at the end of the road at Howell’s Point, Riverton.

The Back Beach.

The small cove at the western end of the Back Beach.

Looking over Foveaux Strait to Stewart Island Rakiura.

The waves here are powerful, coming off Foveaux Strait, the stretch of water between the South Island and Stewart Island. There’s lots of stones here.

The stones of the small cove.

At the western end of the small cove, stones are thrown up against the rocks.

Back Beach stones – the first stone I found is in this photo.

The first stone I found.

The first stone I found, characterised by banding.

In the 90 minutes I spent here, I found a number of interesting stones at both the small cove and along the sweep of the Back Beach.

Today’s favourite, a nice wee quartzite.

This one will polish well.

Gorgeous bright stone, with interesting patches of light purple..

Iron-stained quartz.

Small argillite, with trace fossils at the bottom.

Another trace fossil stone, different colours.

Some great little stones, although not quite the diversity and colour compared to Gemstone Beach, 30 kilometres to the west.

In the 90 minutes I was here, some Hector’s dolphins arrived (at least four) and cavorted in the waves just off the beach. A small crowd of delighted people gathered on the rocks and road and watched and photographed them. One man defied the powerful swell and swam out towards them. Just as well he was a strong swimmer – the only swimmer I have ever seen at this dangerous beach.

A small pod of Hector’s dolphins.

About 20 to 30 people stopped to watch.

Stewart Island Rakiura in the background.

Dolphins in the wave.

A strong swimmer!

Dolphin at left, at bottom of wave, swimmer to right.

Other Tumblestone Posts about the Back Beach include “A Batch of Polished Stones from Riverton’s Back Beach“, “South Island Stone Collecting Trip, May/June 2020 – Days Six to Ten“, “This place is endless thin…Proterra”, “Alert Level Two, Saturday 16 May – Stone 2, “Marble-Type” from Riverton“ and “TumbleStone Calendar 2019 – February, March, April and May“.

Day Eight, Wednesday 24 February – Back to Gemstone Beach. I spent two hours at Gemstone Beach in the rain today, but the wind was light and the temperature was not too cold (15 degrees). There were a handful of other stone hunters there, including a couple of oceanography students from Waikato University with whom I spoke. The rain turned all the stones on the surface of the beach wet and colourful.

Two other stone fossickers.

The oceanography students.

Helicopter over a rainy and misty Gemstone Beach.

The rain made every stone on the surface wet across all of the beach.

Even the stones at the top of the beach, near the cliffs, were wet and colourful.

Rain-wet Gemstone Beach stones.

More rain-wet Gemstone Beach stones.

At the start today, I moved along the top of the stones, near the cliffs, as usually the stones this far up the beach are dry and dull-looking and it is hard to see their colours and patterns. The rain makes all the difference! However, I kept at least a couple of metres away from the cliffs as they are dangerous, being prone to slumping. Here are the first five of today’s best ten finds:

Interesting veins, some interrupted and offset.

Breccia stone, made up of small stone fragments.

Small but noticeable due to the colourful bands.

Trace fossils in argillite. Good sized chevron traces.

Small and very pink.

And here are the last five of today’s top ten:

The delicate dark veins caught my attention.

Complex red quartzite.

A type of quartz.

Some subtle trace fossils here.

A stone dominated by a large vein.

The next Post in this Series deals with Day 9 (Gemstone Beach again) and Day 10 (visits to Tihaka Beach, Garden Bay and Gemstone Beach).

Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 5 to 6 (Gemstone Beach)

Days 1 to 4 are the subject of a previous Post.

Day 5, Sunday 21 February – First visit to Gemstone Beach, Orepuki, on this trip. Gemstone Beach is 30 kms from my base in Riverton, a 25 minutes drive. I spent 3 1/2 hours on the beach, arriving about an hour after high tide. A technical problem meant that all the photos I took couldn’t be downloaded so I took photos of some of the best finds back at the crib (bach or holiday home). It seemed that more stones had been piled up on the beach than my last trip in November, and there appeared to be fewer larger stones (though there were still many of them).

Here is a location map and a couple of photos of the beach taken on my phone today:

Gemstone Beach is at Orepuki at the eastern end of Te Waewae Bay, Source: Google Maps.

Gemstone Beach looking east.

Gemstone Beach looking west.

I have selected 12 of today’s finds to show you, all of them interesting, some even stunning. Here are the first six:

Interesting clear inclusions.

A different type of stone with different type of inclusions (more opaque).

Pastel-coloured stone with interesting veins. Looks like rhodonite but unsure of this.

Bright red.

A small green quartzite.

The tiny dark red veins caught my eye.

Here is the second set of six:

Could be a variety of quartz.

The flash of colour stands out.

A wave of dark red.

Day 6, Monday 22 February – Second visit to Gemstone Beach, Orepuki. I arrived 10 am at high tide and left 4 1/2 hours later. Decided to share the first 20 stones I picked up so you can see the diversity. The first nine were collected from the beach in front of the car park and in an area across an un-named stream to the left (facing the sea). The other 11 stones were collected at the Taunoa Stream, to the right of the car park, and a section of beach on the other side of the Taunoa Stream. More detailed information on the various sections of the beach can be found in this previous Post about another trip two years ago.

The first nine stones:

Gemstone Beach, area at the car park.

Beach area in front of car park.

The un-named stream just to the left of the car park.

Stone 1, small, the dash of colour caught my eye as I walked towards the un-named stream.

Stone 2, from the area across the un-named stream (as is Stones 3 and 4). There is usually only a scattering of stones in this area.

Stone 3, small trace fossil stone, with the trace raised above the surrounding argillite.

Stone 4, possibly argillite??

The beach in front of the car park – part of it has only a scattering of stones.

As you move towards the Taunoa Stream, thicker layers of stones appear.

Stone 5, from the beach in front of the car park (as are Stones 6 to 9), a small quartzite

Stone 6, another quartzite. Such green quartzites can be found here and there on the beach.

Stone 7, breccia.

Stone 8, has some holes but I like the vertical vein and dashes of colour.

Stone 9, probably iron-stained quartz (reasonably common) but with interesting patterns.

Stones 10 to 15 were collected at the Taunoa Stream, about 200 metres from the car park.

Taunoa Stream comes from the right and wends its way to the sea behind me. Looking west.

It is usually flat here, with the stream’s banks no higher than 30 cms. At present, however, a large bank of stones has built up to the right. A wave has just moved up the stream, making it a little deeper than usual. Normally gumboots are required to cross with comfort during cool weather.

Walking up the stream reveals lots of wet stones whose colours are clear.

Stone 10 from the Taunoa Stream.

Stone 11, another small quartzite.

Stone 12, quite small, maybe argillite, with an interesting segment that caught my eye.

Stone 13.

Stone 14. Slightly different hues of green on either side of the central vein.

Stone 15, picked up just as I was leaving the Taunoa Stream – the best of the 20, in my view. I was flabbergasted! Very gorgeous.

Detail of Stone 15.

Stones 16 to 20 were picked up as I walked from the Taunoa Stream westwards along the beach (the banks of stones stretch on for a number of kilometres):

Gemstone Beach, near the car park.

Looking west from Taunoa Stream. The Waimeamea River mouth is at the end of this line of cliffs, just over a kilometre away.

Many parts of the beach from here on have lots of stones of varying sizes.

Stone 16 lies in the middle of this photo, oblong-shaped.

Stone 16.

Stone 17. Probably volcanic in origin.

Stone 18, small but stunning.

Close-up of Stone 18.

Stone 19, deceptively ordinary until viewed closer.

Close-up of Stone 19.

Stone 20.

Gemstone Beach from the car park to the mouth of the Waimeamea River. This is the area I usually walk along when I visit. Stone 20 was found only about 1/20th along.

I continued my walk along to the mouth of the Waimeamea River and then returned to the car park, completing a walk of probably about three kilometres in all today. Here are the most interesting 10 of the other stones I discovered:

Small and delicate.

Another small but gorgeous stone.

The pink is a mineral called thulite.

Yet another amazing quartzite.

When I saw this, I thought “Wow!”

Another “Wow!”

Nice hydrogrossular garnet.

The next Post in this Series deals with Day 7 (the Back Beach, Riverton) and Day 8 (return to Gemstone Beach).

Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 1 to 4 (Kaikoura Coast, Amberley Beach, Leithfield Beach, Kakanui)

This is the first in a Series of Posts about a car trip of nearly four weeks to the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand to collect beach stones for tumble polishing. During the trip, I regularly made daily reports to my personal Facebook page and also the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. These reports form the basis of this Series, although small additions of photos and information have also been made. [I made a similar trip in May/June 2020.]

On Tuesday 16 February, I was scheduled to take my car across Cook Strait by ferry, usually a 3 1/2 hour sail. However, high winds and seas initially delayed the departure of the “Straitsman” ferry from Wellington by 3 1/2 hours, and then the crossing itself took 9 hours, partly due to rough seas (the first hour was especially up and down). The other problem was damage to the dock in Picton that took a few hours to repair, meaning that two previous ferries had to unload and reload before we could. (See here for a newspaper report on a 12 hour ferry journey earlier on that day.) As a result I did not reach my motel in Ward until 3 am on Wednesday (originally scheduled to get there at 6 pm on Tuesday). Not an auspicious start to the trip!

"Straitsman" ferry in rough seas. Source: http://wps.wps.org.nz/portfolio/projected-image-2018/#lightbox[group-21501]/21/

“Straitsman” ferry in rough seas. Source: http://wps.wps.org.nz/portfolio/projected-image-2018/#lightbox%5Bgroup-21501%5D/21/

After the roughest of the seas, the captain allowed us to go outside on deck – photo taken on my phone.

Day One, Wednesday 17 February, driving from Ward to Amberley, with stops at Okiwi Bay and Amberley Beach – The weather was sunny and warm as I drove along the Kaikoura Coast. I stopped off at one of the many small bays (Okiwi Bay) to check out the stones there and at another (Ohau Bay) to view some of the hundreds of seals that make the coast home. I did not collect any stones at Okiwi Bay as most of them are too large, too battered or are too soft to polish. But many are a gorgeous pastel colour – cream, grey and yellow.

Okiwi Bay, about 30 kms north of Kaikoura

Part of the reconstruction of the road after November 2016’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake.

Okiwi Bay. looking south

Okiwi Bay, looking north

I spent 30 minutes walking the beach and taking photos.

Some of the stones included trace fossils, known as “zoophycos” (see the third and fourth stones below). See here for a good introduction to zoophycos by the Kentucky Geological Survey and here for a 1970 article on zoophycos in the “New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics”.

Trace fossils

Trace fossils

The road reconstruction after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, magnitude 7.8, has included a number of parking areas allowing people to view the many fur seals that have returned to the area. I stopped at Ohau Point, just a few kilometres south of Okiwi Bay, and took these photos.

Next stop was Amberley, a drive of just over two hours. I was interested to visit Amberley Beach as it is just along the coast from Leithfield Beach where I had found some nice petrified wood and jasper during a previous trip. While stones were well scattered across the beach there, and I didn’t see any petrified wood, I managed to find more than 20 worth picking up to put in my car.

Amberley Beach, looking north.

Amberley Beach, looking south.

Quartzite stone.

Lovely veins.

Intriguing jasper?

My small group of finds from Amberley Beach.

Day Two, Thursday 18 February – Visited Leithfield Beach this morning – warm sunny weather – and strolled up and down it in the company of my sister Helen and her husband Ray. Found a number of interesting jaspers (no petrified wood this time). I then drove down to Kakanui where I stay for two nights, a four hours drive. Took photos of a few of my Leithfield Beach finds late this afternoon in less than ideal light conditions.

Leithfield Beach, looking south.

Stormwater outfall.

Leithfield Beach stones.

Day Three, Friday 19 February – Visited a Kakanui Beach this morning and again this afternoon, the beach that is my favourite in the area. I have decided to call it Seadown Beach after the nearby Seadown Road. Lots of stones on the beach, perfect weather.

My favourite Kakanui Beach

Kakanui Beach stones

This morning, I found lots of interesting jaspers and quartzites along the first 300 metres of the beach, some of which are shown here:

The find of the week!

Other side of the find of the week.

Eight of the remaining finds from this morning:

This afternoon, it was low tide at the beach. Not so many stones wet by the breaking waves so less finds. However, they were still of high quality, as shown by this sample:

Day Four, Saturday 20 February – Visited Kakanui Seadown Beach again this morning, before hitting the road again, arriving in Riverton Aparima late this afternoon. Foggy in Kakanui this morning:

Foggy beach at Kakanui

View from the south

Kakanui stones

The fog actually helped to keep some of the stones wet, assisting me to find a few more very nice candidates for polishing. However, lack of direct sunlight maybe made the photos a little dark.

The next Post in this Series, on Days 5 and 6 on Gemstone Beach, is here.

The Iron-Stained Stones of Kai Iwi Beach

Google Maps view of Mowhanau Village (centre), showing Kai-Iwi Stream.

I moved to Whanganui from Cambridge just over six months ago. I now live quite close to the seaside village of Mowhanau situated on Kai Iwi Beach. I have walked on the beach a few times, especially near the Kai Iwi Stream mouth. I have not been particularly impressed with the few stones to be found amidst the scattering of stones and shells and other bits and pieces in the sand. They seemed to originate in a layer in the cliffs, and some were maybe being brought down by the stream.

Then I took a closer look at the small brown (iron-stained) stones lying here and there on the beach and in the stream. On this closer inspection, they looked like they might repay tumbling as there were hints of patterns within them and they appeared to be made up mainly of quartz, which polishes well. It took three weeks to tumble the first batch. The results surprised me. Here are four of the 60 polished stones.

Washed Kai-Iwi Beach stones, ready to be tumbled.

To take a closer look at two of these stones which have very different colours and patterns:

Here are three stones which are practically orange-coloured:

Three Kai-Iwi Beach polished stones of complex construction:

Some of the darker-coloured stones:

And, to finish off this part of the Post, three of the lighter-coloured stones:

What is the source of these stones? The following is a brief report on my initial investigations. Kai Iwi Beach is geologically part of the Whanganui Basin. This Basin has been described in “Landscape and Quaternary Environmental Change in New Zealand” (2016) as “a unique global archive”, unique because of the way it reveals “a shallow marine basinal sequence, exposed on land, which spans the entire Quaternary” (the last 2.6 million years). The cliffs and marine terraces along the coast from the mouth of the Whanganui River to the mouth of the Patea River expose a series of “sequences” of geological layering.

Source: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.2991/978-94-6239-237-3_4

There are three parts to each sequence, described in a technical manner in a 1999 article in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics as follows: The first part is “a basal suite of shore face and inner shelf sediments with intertidal and shallow subtidal molluscan faunas, and cross-bedded, pebbly shell gravels” – it is likely that the stones I collected and polished came from this kind of layer. The second part of each sequence is typically “a shellbed, which contains in situ offshore molluscs in a matrix of muddy fine sandstone or fine sandy siltstone”, with the third part being “siltstone, either bedded and barren of fossils, or bioturbated and with a sparsely scattered in situ fauna”. In other words, there are lots of layers here, many of which contain fossil shells and a scattering of stones.

The beaches along this coastline are often littered with rocks and stones that contain many fossil shellfish. A recent visit to the wild and secluded Ototoka Beach, not far from Kai Iwi Beach, resulted in many fossil shell finds.

The way down to Ototoka Beach from the carpark – Petra is on the bridge.

See here for a two minute YouTube video on Kai Iwi Beach – the first part is on the more popular part of the beach a few hundred metres to the southwest of the Kai Iwi Stream mouth. At 1 minute 15 seconds, the Kai Iwi Stream is shown, then the beach past the stream mouth.

This YouTube video features drone footage of Kai Iwi Beach. Most of the first part of the video is of the beach at Mowhanau Village but at 2 minutes 4 seconds it goes up the beach past Kai Iwi Stream, the area in which I found most of these stones, and it shows more detail of the stream itself from 2 minutes 25 seconds.

A YouTube video of drone footage of Ototoka Beach.

Photo-Book #2 “The 33 Stones of the Lockdown”

Photo-book number one.

Photo-book number two.

This is my second recent photo-book, using an online site. The first was on the trace fossil stones of Gemstone Beach. “The 33 Stones of the Lockdown” features the stones I posted on TumbleStone Blog over the 33 days of the Lockdown in New Zealand. The first Post of this Series, on Thursday 26 March, featured a small grey brecciated stone from Gemstone Beach.

I decided that a photo-book would be a great way to be able to look back, in the years ahead, on a significant and unusual time in the history of our communities, country and the globe. I no longer have all these 33 stones as I sent a few to those of my small number of Facebook friends who followed the Series on Facebook, so the photo-book is also a record of some special and unusual pebbles that I have collected and tumble-polished. Photos dominate the 30 page book, which is hardcover and 20 cm by 20 cm in size. At the beginning is a photo of all 33 stones followed by a brief introduction to the Covid-19 pandemic in New Zealand.

Photos of the 33 stones make up the bulk of the book. On some pages, just one stone is featured. On other pages, two stones are displayed. The online site provides a number of pre-determined formats and these two best fitted my aims.

It is difficult to control the brightness and colour of the finished product. What you see on your computer screen is not always an accurate representation of what turns up in the book. I order one copy of the book first and then make any adjustments required to ensure good images before ordering any further copies.

The final couple of pages have photos of the places where the stones were found.

Back cover.

All 33 stones, plus the other stones posted during Alert Levels Two and Three, can be found in the Summary Index of Stones of the Pandemic.

End of South Island Stone Collecting Trip, May/June 2020 – Days 19 to 22

The following are the last of my personal Facebook Posts on my trip, which were also posted in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first five days of my trip can be found here.

Day Nineteen, Visit to Beaches North of Kakanui – I stopped off at about four places along the stony beaches just north of Kakanui. The bright sun dried out stones and made it hard to see their colours.

One of the places I parked.

I spent a lot of time nosing around the back of the beach. These boulders look like they were placed here to prevent erosion – the former coast road here has disappeared due to the sea’s encroachment.

The tide was going out. The stones dried in the sun. But sometimes the shade kept some stones wet.

At the southern end of the stony part of the coast are some rocks with a few stones piled up against them

The lower layer of the rock consisted of this dense breccia of very small pebbles – see next photo.

But I managed to find a few worth tumble polishing, especially quartzites and some jaspers. I didn’t see any agates.

Light cream quartzite.

I picked up a lot of small grey quartzites, which will polish well.

Green quartzite.

Jasper.

Unusual shaped jasper.

Side A.

Side B.

This stone was too large to take home, but worthy of a photo.

Yellow quartzite.

Stained quartz.

Quartzite.

An interesting quartzite, a larger stone but able to be polished in my 12lb barrel.

Day Twenty, Last Visit to Kakanui Beach on This Trip – I spent four hours on the stony beach two kilometres north of Kakanui. It was 1 degree when I arrived at 10 am, and it stayed cold. Hat, scarf, gloves and a thick coat were all necessities today. Today was cloudy, which meant that nearly all the stones on the beach stayed wet! That made fossicking so much easier than yesterday. I met a local couple walking their dog and picking up rubbish (bless them!). They told me that sometimes there are very few stones on the beach, and changes can occur from day to day. But today, they said, was excellent for someone like me. I found many very nice quartzites and red jaspers and a few other kinds of stones.

The view on the drive from Oamaru to Kakanui today.

An exquisite small stone, one of the last I found today.

The other side of the previous stone.

A little beaten up, but a beaut!

Side A.

Side B.

Jasper.

Another bashed about but gorgeous pebble.

Other side of previous stone.

I find silica veins intriguing.

Another gorgeous small stone.

Side A.

Side B.

The white blaze on this stone caught my eye.

I stashed my finds in three different places as I made my way about a kilometre along the beach (it felt like two or three kilometres but I checked on Google Maps). I had to make sure I could remember these places so chose very large drift wood pieces. Gathering the stashes up on the way back made the last 300 metres an effort, but it was worth it.

My first stash of stones was at this large up-right driftwood branch. The stones across the beach were wet so I found some good ones even at the back here.

My second stash of stones was left at the end of this “pointer”.

My third stash was near this large driftwood tree trunk.

A stunning small black and white pebble.

Small flat stone.

Small spherical stone.

Outstanding jasper.

Close-up of jasper stone.

Quartzite.

Yellow quartzite. There were many of this type of stone on the beach.

I think this is a limonite prase.

Probably a quartzite.

Green quartzite.

Day Twenty-One, Oamaru to Christchurch – Today I stopped off at Patiti Beach (Timaru), Browns Beach (near Temuka) and Wakanui Beach (to the east of Ashburton). The kind of stones I am interested in for tumble polishing are few and far between on these beaches but an hour’s fossicking does prove productive, especially for small quartzites and jaspers.

Patiti Beach is located right within the boundaries of the city of Timaru:

South Canterbury landscape view. Irrigation equipment in foreground.

The parking area at Patiti Beach, Timaru (not my car).

Patiti Beach.

Patiti Beach stones.

Find of the day.

Browns Beach is on the coast east of Temuka:

Browns Beach. Timaru is far away in the distance across the bay, straight ahead, centre.

Dark purple pebble,

Nice grey quartzite, a bit bigger than the other stones I collected here.

One side of a small quartzite.

Other side of a small quartzite.

The parking area at Browns Beach (my car).

Wakanui Beach is east of Ashburton:

Wakanui Beach is about 20 kilometres east of Ashburton.

Parking area at Wakanui Beach, looking south.

Wakanui Beach.

South Canterbury beach agate, the only one I found.

Small, oval and smooth quartzite pebble.

Sun falling over Mid-Canterbury.

Day Twenty-Two, Final Day Visiting Beaches, Gore Bay and Kekerengu – I’ve now clocked up over 3,000 kms, reached Ward tonight, catching the Cook Strait ferry tomorrow (if it’s not too stormy). After leaving Christchurch this morning, I stopped off at Gore Bay, just to the east of Cheviot. Lots of grey stones on the beach, with the odd dash of white or colour. An hour’s fossick yielded a few interesting stones, often a bit bashed about.

Gore Bay, looking south. The small segment of wet stones was where I spent my time.

At the far north of Gore Bay.

Gore Bay, looking north. I found a handful of colourful quartzites. Jasper was also present.

Lovely quartzite stone.

Close-up of quartzite stone.

Small green pebble,

There were a number of small black and white stones on the beach.

Close-up of black and white stone.

Another nice grey quartzite.

Close-up of grey quartzite.

Later I stopped off on the Kaikoura coast at the beach north of Kekerengu, not far from where the road leaves the coast to head to Ward. The sun was dropping but I wanted to revisit this beach – on my way south I had found some interesting limestone stones with trace fossils in them. I collected a few more to aid my study and understanding of them. Today was a warm day, up to 20 degrees. A storm is coming.

The beach north of Kekerengu along the Kaikoura coast. Looking north.

The fading light and colour or shininess of the stones meant that my camera usually didn’t quite get the stones in focus.

There are a number of types of limestone stones, some white, some grey, some cream. Many have dark grey layers and/or traces.

I had to wait 30 minutes for road works at one point. Nearby was this heron, and…

…at least 20 or 30 seals on the rocks.

[The storm arrived the next day, the day I crossed Cook Strait on the car ferry. A planned trip to Ward Beach in the morning was not able to take place.]

South Island Stone Collecting Trip, May/June 2020 – Days 16 to 18

The following are Facebook Posts on my trip made for family and friends, as well as for the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first five days of my trip can be found here.

Day Sixteen, Ninth Visit to Gemstone Beach – Since I don’t leave Riverton until tomorrow, I decided to make one more visit to Gemstone Beach this morning, 30 kilometres away. The day was so nice and I had such a productive fossick yesterday that I couldn’t resist the temptation. Ended up spending nearly four hours in the sunshine.

Gemstone Beach on a sunny winter morning.

Same view as previous photo but standing on top of the bank of stones.

Nice quartz. Graduated colour and interesting shape.

While there was little wind on the beach, further out, the wind whipped the breakers.

I’m always interested in stones that look vaguely like fossil worm casts but are not. This brecciated stone was too big to take home so I took a photo of it.

Detail of large brecciated stone.

A dry stone. When wet….

…the colours become apparent.

Not as many great finds today compared to yesterday but I picked up some nice stones for tumble polishing.

Small light green quartzite.

Close-up of small light green quartzite.

Close-up of black and white stone.

I am always interested in black and white stones.

A few holes and scratches but interesting composition, as shown in next photo.

Probably an argillite.

I call this a “one-sider”, because….

…the other side is bashed about. I usually return such stones to the beach as they will not tumble polish smoothly. But I like the colours in this one too much and so will polish it for the quality of “one side”.

Met a couple of people on the beach, one from Montana and another from Riverton (who said she had learned tumble polishing from my Blog!), and had interesting chats about stones.

White hydrogrossular garnet.

Close-up of white hydrogrossular garnet.

Climbing up the bank of stones, I spotted this….

…a green hydrogrossular garnet.

The green hydrogrossular garnet is partly translucent. I gave it to the fellow tumble polisher I met on the beach near the Taunoa Stream on my way back to the carpark.

A minute later, I found this nice white hydrogrossular garnet.

A stone with a fault-line in it.

Day Seventeen, Henderson Bay, Riverton – Had a quick visit to the bay in Riverton where I had summer holidays when growing up. It’s the last little bay before the Back Beach.

Bluff Hill in the far distance, across the water. The Back Beach, on Foveaux Strait, is around the corner to the right.

The steps down to Henderson Bay. Stones are scattered along the sandy beach, with a few drifts here and there.

Looking towards Riverton town from Henderson Bay on a gloomy winter’s morning

There are lots of interesting rock masses along the beach, including argillite and pillow lava.

This partially-hidden rock pool was my favourite place on the beach when I was small.

The rock pool.

Our former crib (holiday house) is at the top of the hill behind Henderson Bay, now owned by a different family.

Cold wind this morning so I needed all my warm weather gear. The stones at Henderson Bay are similar to those at the Back Beach and, to a lesser degree, Gemstone Beach. Generally speaking, there are fewer of them and of less quality here.

Small quartzite found this morning.

Detail of small quartzite.

Another small quartzite.

Close-up of quartzite.

This stone has a softish feel, waxy but dry. I have found a couple more like this in the area in the past. I suspect it may be a kind of petrified wood.

I can always find a handful of fossil worm cast stones at Henderson Bay.

Small fossil worm cast stone.

Iron stained quartz.

Day Eighteen, Gore to Oamaru – I drove from Gore to Oamaru and stopped off at Hampden and the beaches between the Waianakarua River mouth and Kakanui. I decided that the stones on the beach just north of Kakanui were so great that I’ll be going back there again on Sunday and Monday. Cold but sunny weather, the lack of wind and rain is appreciated.

Stream across the beach at Hampden, North Otago.

There was a lot of white quartz with interesting shapes at Hampden.

The beach just north of the Waianakarua River mouth.

Small beach agate found just north of the Waianakarua River mouth.

A green-stained quartz found just north of the Waianakarua River mouth.

This stone, found just north of the Waianakarua River mouth, could be petrified wood.

Found on the beach just north of Kakanui – small smooth grey quartzite pebble.

Kakanui yellow quartzite.

Detail of yellow quartzite.

See here for the next Post in this Series.

South Island Stone Collecting Trip, May/June 2020 – Days 11 to 15

As mentioned in the first Post of this Series, I am undertaking a three-week stone collecting trip to the South Island by car. I am posting up-dates on Facebook for family and friends, as well as in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”, then re-posting them here.

Day Eleven, Fourth Visit to Gemstone Beach – Nearly did not undertake this visit this morning as it is cold and wet here. But some of us are crazy! (and have very warm coats!). It was 5 degrees and windy when I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 9.30 am but the wind died down for most of the 90 minutes I was on the beach. Some rain and hail showers passed through. I took only a handful of photos of the scene due to the cold. I took photos of stones later when I got back to the crib at Riverton. These are the six most interesting (to me) stones I found this morning.

A cold grey day on Gemstone Beach.

Product of a hail storm.

Find of the day! I’ve not seen a fossil worm cast stone of this colour before.

Detail of trace fossils.

Highly patterned argillite.

Close-up of argillite.

Hematite jasper, similar to the Stone of the Lockdown.

Close-up of hematite jasper.

A small banded argillite, found on the beach in front of the carpark as I was leaving.

Other side of small banded argillite.

A small stone with polishing potential.

Close-up.

One side of final stone for today.

Other side of final stone for today.

Day Twelve, Fifth Visit to Gemstone Beach – Another cold and wet and windy day, lightning and rainbows and hail all part of the beach experience. But with good wet weather gear on, I managed to stay on the beach for nearly three hours (got to make the most of my time here!).

The carpark at Gemstone Beach.

Gemstone Beach waves today.

These waves churn up the stones as they break and rush up the beach.

Panorama photo of a rainbow over Gemstone Beach.

At least the rain kept all the beach stones wet which meant the colours and patterns in them were easily seen.

I was very disappointed with the photos of my stones today. I took the photos back where I am staying at Riverton, but a lack of sunlight did not help. Here are five of the stones I collected for tumble polishing.

I have been looking out for this type of stone, a deep green argillite with red markings, probably fossil worm traces.

Close-up of trace fossils.

Gorgeous small stone, probably argillite.

Other side of small argillite.

Close-up of small argillite.

Not sure of the type of stone, nor how well it will polish, but I like its markings.

Close-up of previous stone.

Nice small brecciated stone.

Close-up of brecciated stone.

Gorgeous stone, maybe some kind of quartz. Will be interesting to see how tumble polishing wears away the cream material.

Close-up of previous stone.

Day Thirteen, Sixth Visit to Gemstone Beach – Cold again but very little wind and practically no rain, good sunshine, so my photos turned out much better. Spent two and a half hours there, not going too far in either direction from the carpark. Three or four groups of people also on the beach though most did not venture past the Taunoa Stream which was quite high.

Information Display at Orepuki, about one kilometre from Gemstone Beach.

From Information Display.

The cliffs of Gemstone Beach, with the Taunoa Stream running high in the foreground. This stream, about 300 metres from the carpark, often stops tourists from going further west along Gemstone Beach. More serious fossickers need to ford it, and it is often not too difficult to do so.

Looking back towards the Taunoa Stream which is at the end of the nearest cliff segment.

The same view as the previous one, but from a different angle.

I found a couple of good hydrogrossular garnets today and a few interesting fossil worm cast stones.

A white hydrogrossular garnet.

A “porcelain-type” hydrogrossular garnet. The dark material is commonly found with these stones.

Argillite with faint fossil worm traces.

Larger argillite stone with typical fossil worm traces.

Small stone with fossil worm trace bisected by dark vein.

Found on the edge of the Taunoa Stream on my way back to the carpark.

I also found a few nice stones for tumble polishing, and one that’s too big bit still worth taking home.

A small stone.

Delicate lines.

Bright colour.

Complex composition.

I call these “marble-type” stones though they are more likely iron-stained quartz. But when polished they look like patterned marble.

Another “marble-type” stone.

Brecciated stone.

This stunning stone is just a little too big to tumble polish so I usually leave ones like these on the beach. As I have my car here, and as this is really very nice, I decided to take it with me as a specimen stone.

Day Fourteen, Seventh Visit to Gemstone Beach – Due to coldness and some fatigue, and to having other commitments in the afternoon, I did not make a Post about this beach visit. I took very few photos on the beach, despite being there for two and a half hours. Here are some of them.

A handful of small stones. Three hydrogrossular garnets and two banded argillites.

Hydrogrossular garnet.

Another hydrogrossular garnet.

Find of the day, a pale quartzite.

Close-up of one side of quartzite.

Other side of quartzite.

Close-up of other side of quartzite.

Day Fifteen, Eighth Visit to Gemstone Beach – Probably my last morning on Gemstone Beach for this trip south. Spent just over three hours on the beach in the company of my sister Helen again. About 10 to 11 degrees, some wind which died down, partly cloudy.

Sunrise over Taramea Bay, Riverton, just outside the crib that is my base. Gemstone Beach is about 30 kilometres away.

Sunrise over Taramea Bay, Riverton, again.

In front of the carpark, Gemstone Beach, a few passing tourists and maybe a fossicker or two.

The “crumbling cliffs” of Gemstone Beach. My green backpack for scale.

Drifting tree roots.

Many blue bottles had been washed up on Gemstone Beach today.

Had a good fossicking morning, finding a very rare fossil coral, a couple of nice hydrogrossular garnets, some fossil worm casts, and a few other stones with promise for tumble polishing.

Top of the fossil coral stone I found. Very rare on Gemstone Beach.

Close-up of top of fossil coral.

Side of fossil coral stone.

Close-up of side of fossil coral stone.

Green hydrogrossular garnet.

Brown hydrogrossular garnet.

Argillite with well-defined fossil worm traces.

One side of small fossil worm cast stone.

Other side of small fossil worm cast stone.

Trace fossils.

Cream coloured argillite with faint fossil worm traces.

Close-up of previous stone.

Likely to tumble polish well.

Close-up.

Small banded argillite stone with fault line.

Close-up of fault line on small banded argillite stone.

Volcanic stone with gaseous bubbles filled with quartz.

Close-up of volcanic stone.

See here for the next Post in this Series.

South Island Stone Collecting Trip, May/June 2020 – Days Six to Ten

The stones of the Back Beach, Riverton.

The cliffs to the left of the carpark. Stones in the foreground.

The lagoon of the Waimeamea River, created by the piling up of stones on the right, preventing the river from reaching the sea, though it seeps through the stones. The lagoon is twice the size I have previously seen.

Seagulls at Gemstone Beach

The snow-capped mountains of Eastern Fiordland, from Gemstone Beach. A wild sea generated some powerful waves.

The kind of small stone that will likely look stunning after polishing.

Delicate veins.

Gorgeous colours. This stone was too big to tumble polish so I left it on the beach.

A stunning stone, probably a quartzite.

Day Six, Gore to Riverton, Visit to Back Beach – A cold but sunny day in the south! Arrived at Riverton at lunchtime. Visited the Back Beach for about 45 minutes as the late afternoon sun was going down. Were a few people there, enjoying the end of the first long weekend under Alert Level Two.

The stones of the Back Beach, Riverton.

The end of the road at the Back Beach, a popular place for holiday-makers.

The kind of small stone that will likely look stunning after polishing.

Made interesting by the yellow veins.

Likely to be argillite, a mudstone.

Probably petrified wood.

The grey material looks porous and not likely to polish. Will tumble this one and see what happens.

Could be interesting.

Will polish well.

A lot of small fragments compressed together?

The stones on the Back Beach are a very mixed bunch. Most are rough and don’t look good candidates for polishing. However, I have often been surprised at how well they turn out after spending time in the tumbler barrel. The key is to see the potential of the colours and patterns. I found very few fossil worm cast stones despite them having been much easier to find earlier this year.

Looking from the Back Beach across a calm Foveaux Strait to Rakiura/Stewart Island.

Small banded ignimbrite.

Small chipped fossil worm cast stone.

Fossil worm cast stone.

Day Seven, First Visit to Gemstone Beach – Warmish cloudy day, spent three hours on Gemstone Beach with my sister Helen. About 10 other people were on the beach at different times as well, one was a local collector of hydrogrossular garnets I had met before, and three were Czech people stranded in NZ by the Covid-19 pandemic, undertaking a South Island tour in Level Two. Helen and I first went to the left of the carpark where stones are not usually deposited on the beach. Today there was a good selection there.

Looking to the left from the carpark – there were two or three large drifts of stones along the beach here, which is unusual.

The cliffs to the left of the carpark. Stones in the foreground.

Panaroma of the Taunoa Stream which is to the right of the carpark. There is a small lagoon here now when on previous visits there was just a stream running into the sea. The figure to the left of centre is my sister Helen.

Delicate veins.

A complex small stone.

Quartzite-type stone.

Small green and white stone.

Very interesting inclusions in small dark stone.

We then dropped our initial finds off in the car before walking to the right, past the Taunoa Stream. About 500 metres in that direction we started to find a few small hydrogrossular garnets. Overall, many interesting stones on the beach.

Gorgeous green quartzite.

Gorgeous colours. This stone was too big to tumble polish so I left it on the beach.

White hydrogrossular garnet, one of the bigger ones I found, though it is still small.

Hydrogrossular garnet – quite a thin slice-like piece.

Fossil worm cast stone with unusually dark traces.

Probably petrified wood.

Brecciated stone.

Small black and white stone.

Day Eight, Second Visit to Gemstone Beach – Another warm day, spent four hours on Gemstone Beach with my sister Helen. We timed our arrival for just after high tide and decided to move westwards along the beach towards the Waimeamea River mouth, just over one kilometre away. However, we were initially unable to cross the Taunoa Stream so spent 30 minutes or so on the beach near the carpark until the tide went out a bit more and the Taunoa Stream went down. We then made our way towards the Waimeamea River, arriving there about two and a half hours later, collecting stones all the way.

The Taunoa Stream upon our arrival. At the top, the waves are bringing in water (white foam) which is keeping the water level high and keeping the outflow (lower flow) strong. Once the tide receded a bit more, the outflow reduced in size so we could cross.

One of about 6 or 7 seepages from the lagoon. Eventually, as the stones are washed away, a channel can be formed for the Waimeamea River to discharge directly into the sea, until the tide comes in and piles up stones here again.

Tumble polishing should make this even more interesting.

A stunning stone, probably a quartzite.

An unusual clay-like colour as a fine matrix to pieces of quartz and some silica veins.

A stone made up of tiny fragments, in a yellow wash.

Rhyolite, a volcanic rock.

Great range of greens here.

Another hour saw us back at the carpark, just as a cooler breeze was getting up. We found a few hydrogrossular garnets, as well as some nice specimens of fossil worm cast stones, along with a good number of colourful and interesting patterned stones likely to respond well to tumble polishing.

Gemstone Beach stones of the size that is common for most of the beach.

Some of the larger Gemstone Beach stones that appear as you move closer to the Waimeamea River mouth, though smaller ones continue to predominate.

Nice small grey hydrogrossular garnet with some yellow at bottom.

Small hydrogrossular garnet.

Tan coloured hydrogrossular garnet. garnet.

This doesn’t look like a hydrogrossular garnet but I have seen it grouped with the other type in the Riverton Museum and seen references to a chalk-like variety.

Similar to previous photo but more smooth and with a pink blush. I refer to these as a “porcelain-type” hydrogrossular garnet because of its fine white character.

Fossil worm cast stone. The trace rising from the bottom left is chevron-shaped, known as ichnogenus Protovirgularia, a general term for the trace fossil shape irrespective of its size and what may have produced it.

Similar shape trace fossil, different type of stone and colour.

An elongated ichnogenus Protovirgularia.

Spot the ichnogenus Protovirgularia… There are three or four here.

Fossil worm trails emerging out of the stone.

A large specimen of a quartzite-type rock. I left it on the beach as it is far too big to tumble polish.

Day Nine – Too wet and windy, stayed inside.

Day Ten, Third Visit to Gemstone Beach – A cold front moved through yesterday and the temperature has dropped. However, I dressed warmly and headed to the beach. Ended up spending five hours there. Arrived just before high tide, and the waves were high and powerful, forcing me initially to look for stones at the foot of the cliff at the back of the beach.

The snow-capped mountains of Eastern Fiordland, photo taken from just outside Orepuki.

The snow-capped mountains of Eastern Fiordland, from Gemstone Beach. A wild sea generated some powerful waves.

The occasional wave lapping over the stone bank at Waimeamea River mouth/lagoon.

On my way up the beach, westwards, I kept close to the cliffs, the safest place to be. The stones were wet as they were in the shade, so fossicking was good.

On this little ledge of stones, I found a couple of interesting stones…

This is the first I found on the ledge.

Close-up of previous stone.

And a little further along the ledge was this larger stone…

It has some great fossil worm casts. It is too big to tumble polish but I decided to take it home as an excellent example of such trace fossils.

A different type of fossil worm cast stone.

Close-up of fossil worm casts on previous stone.

A small lumpy stone found on my way back, 250 metres from the car park. I am fairly certain that the lumps are fossil worm casts.

Making the lumps (fossil casts) more visible by manipulating the image.

I went about one kilometre past the Waimeamea River mouth, further than I have gone before. I dropped off a couple of stashes of stones along the way to pick up when returning, so my backpack would remain as light as long as possible, though by the time I got back to the carpark it was quite heavy!

The bright colour of this stone grabbed my attention.

A more subdued colour…

Close-up of previous stone.

A closer inspection reveals the complex character of this stone…

Close-up view of previous stone.

Part of the beach where sand predominates along with driftwood. There, I found…

…this interesting stone.

It is a banded argillite.

Maybe reminiscent of the planet Jupiter.

Silica veins are always interesting.

A thicker vein.

See here for the next Post in this Series.

South Island Stone Collecting Trip, May/June 2020 – First Five Days

The beach just north of Kekerenga, looking south.

Autumn foliage in North Canterbury.

This photo captures the scale of the cliffs at the end of the beach that abuts onto Banks Peninsula.

The 4-5 metres high cliff at the back of the beach.

Beach just north of Kakanuii.

Distinctive trace fossil trail.

Jasper or maybe quartzite?

Green quartzite.

Gorgeous quartzite.

Gold quartzite.

On 14 May, New Zealand moved to Covid-19 Alert Level Two, lifting the majority of lockdown restrictions while maintaining physical distancing. It’s now been more than a week since New Zealand had a new Covid-19 case and there is currently only one active case left in the country. The move to Level Two means travel is now possible to different parts of the country. I have taken the opportunity to embark upon a three-week stone collecting trip to the South Island by car, crossing Cook Strait by ferry on Wednesday 27 May. The following are the up-dates I posted on Facebook for the first five days of the trip.

Day One, Wellington/Picton to Cheviot – Stopped on the beach some 60 kms north of Kaikoura and found lots of interesting white stones with dark shapes on them. Some of the shapes were very reminiscent of worm cast fossil traces – I will need to do a bit of research and sort out any connection. I found a few other types of stones as well. There were also lots of roadworks and seals along the coast.

The beach just north of Kekerenga, looking south.

It was the light grey stones that drew my attention.

Inland from the beach.

A lot of road works and road protection is still being undertaken in the wake of the massive 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

Waiting at a stop/go, I glanced down at the beach and saw…

…a number of seal pups playing around the rocks.

[The stones are probably some kind of limestone and the dark shapes are definitely trace fossils. Whether they will polish or not is questionable due to the relative softness of the stones.]

Distinctive trace fossil trail.

The only quartzite-like stone I found on the beach.

Day Two, Cheviot to Birdlings Flat – Foggy this morning on the road for the first 30 minutes, sunshine the rest of the day though it struggled to get past 13 degrees. Some brilliant autumn foliage, especially in North Canterbury. I arrived at Birdlings Flat at noon, about 6 or 7 others collecting stones on the beach too. With the sun so bright and low in the sky, it was hard to pick out details of stones but I managed to find a few of interest, especially some nice quartzites. On the way to Christchurch for the night, saw some thick cloud clinging to the top of the Port Hills. Will visit Birdlings Flat again tomorrow.

Autumn foliage in North Canterbury.

Birdlings Flat, looking north towards Banks Peninsula.

Low cloud clinging to the Port Hills near Christchurch.

[I found some typical Birdlings Flat stones with interesting colours and patterns.]

Jasper or maybe quartzite?

Petrified wood.

Quartzite.

Jasper.

Quartzite.

Interesting intrusions in this stone.

Quartzite.

Could be jasper.

Grey/white quartzite.

Gold quartzite.

Small agate piece.

Day Three, Birdlings Flat – Cloudy and cool today, but the lack of sun meant that I could see the stones better. There was a 50 metre wide strip of wet stones along the shore-line which stayed wet, showing the colours of the stones. I walked up and down this strip, not along the beach – going towards the wave-line then back from it, zigzagging down the beach.

I parked on the compacted stones, not venturing past thos warning sign.

This photo captures the scale of the cliffs at the end of the beach that abuts onto Banks Peninsula.

My backpack, marking my movement up and down the beach.

In the three hours I was there, I found quite a few interesting stones, mainly quartzites, in a relatively small space (about 300 metres of the beach).

Gorgeous green quartzite.

Green quartzite.

Quartzite with a dash of gold and orange.

Petrified wood.

Striped jasper?

A kind of breccia?

Quartzite.

Small gold quartzite.

Larger gold quartzite.

Even larger gold quartzite.

Another type of gold quartzite.

Day Four, Christchurch to Oamaru, Side Trip to Beach near Hinds – On my way to Oamaru, I turned eastwards at Hinds (100 kms south of Christchurch) to come out at the coast after about 20 kms just north of the Rangitata River mouth. It is said that stones brought down from the Alps by this river eventually make their way to Birdlings Flat (100 kms away). And the evidence supports that view. In the 90 minutes I was there, I collected a few quartzites of the type that can also be found at Birdlings, a few of which are quite stunning. There were quite a few jasper stones on the beach, and I found one small agate fragment.

The beach on the coast near Hinds.

The 4-5 metres high cliff at the back of the beach.

Gorgeous quartzite.

The kind of gold quartzite that is found at Birdlings Flat too.

Not sure what this stone is.

A small agate fragment with a couple of bands.

Day Five, Oamaru to Gore, Side Trip to Beach near Kakanui – Just south of Oamaru I headed to the coast near Kakanui. My friend and former University of Waikato colleague David has a holiday home there and has encouraged me to see what stones might be found on the beach. I was very pleasantly surprised to find many nice quartzites there, especially the yellow/gold ones I particularly like. Another sunny day, cool, but excellent for fossicking mainly due to the lack of wind.