Category: Riverton

The book launch is in Invercargill tonight. This morning I worked on some photos of stones and a blog post on my recent Kakanui fossick. In the early afternoon, I decided that I needed some fresh air so, despite the cold weather, I headed to the Back Beach. I arrived at the eastern end at 1.20pm, and fossicked around the corner from the main beach.

I fossicked around the corner from the Back Beach. http://www.google.com/maps/@-46.3826061,168.0294395,907m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Just around the corner from the main Back Beach. Looking south.

Looking east.

A good patch of stones.

The waves came in here and moved around behind the rock…

…the course of the waves flowing back to the sea.

However, I needed to leave after only 20 minutes – there was a strong southerly wind blowing directly over Foveaux Strait. It was eight degrees, probably five with the wind chill. As I drove along the road to the turning point, a rainbow appeared over the Strait.

On the way back to the crib, I stopped off for ten minutes at Henderson’s Bay, a noticeably more sheltered beach, though stones there are not plentiful. I collected only 15 stones altogether this afternoon. Six of them are featured below. 

 I found this small breccia stone today – it has a diversity of colourful fragments within it:     

Breccia stone.

Other side of breccia stone.

A quartz stone with a brecciated creamy-yellow mineral in it:

Other side of stone.

A rhyolite stone:

A very dark red jasper – I have lightened up the close-ups to show its texture more clearly:

Other side of jasper.

A trace fossil in an argillite stone, with the trace slightly raised:

I picked this stone up because I could see some  small patches or crystals in it:    

Other side of stone.

The next Post features my speech tonight at the launch of “What’s This Stone?” in Invercargill.    

An Index to all the Posts in this Series is here.  

I arrived in Riverton Aparima early this afternoon. For a description of the area, see the entry for “R is for Riverton Rocks Red Rock” in this Post. I am going to be staying three days in a crib at Taramea Bay. After some unpacking, I drove the short distance to the Back Beach, arriving at 3.30pm. Conditions were pleasant, being sunny, 12 degrees, with no wind. It was low tide which limited the number of stones being wet by the waves. I fossicked for just 30 minutes, mainly at the western end of the beach, around a small cove.

Back Beach, Riverton Aparima.

Small cove at western end.

The stones of the small cove.

Looking southeast towards Bluff and Stewart Island Rakiura. See next photo.

The digger at the back of the Back Beach.

I had noticed a mechanical digger at work at the back of the beach, near the road, and stopped to ask what was going on. It turns out that the local council is digging test pits to check if there used to be a rubbish dump there which could be subject to coastal erosion. 

The following seven stones are highlights from this short fossick. Firstly, the most intriguing to me looks relatively innocuous at first sight, but it consists of two slightly different halves with a dark vein at the boundary:   

A cute little trace fossil argillite stone:

This third stone seems to be a type of spotted argillite. It has an interesting texture:      

Two different black igneous stones with white crystals – the second cooled more slowly, giving time for the crystals to grow larger before it hardened:     

Finally, two quartzy stones, one white (with a vein), the other with a creamy yellow blush, both again with an interesting texture when viewed closely:

Tomorrow I make it to Gemstone Beach, where I get caught in a rain storm..

An Index to all the Posts in this Series is here. 

In Riverton Aparima, the “Rocks Highway” ends at the Back Beach but there is a walking track over the dunes to another beach with stones. I call it The Beach Past the Back Beach. Some details about this beach can be found in the entry for Day 14, Tuesday 2 March 2021 in this Post. I arrived there about 1pm and spent an hour looking among the rocks at the eastern end of the beach.

At the top of the track over the dunes, looking down on The Beach Past the Back Beach.

Stones on The Beach Past the Back Beach.

At the eastern end of the beach are lots of rocks with lots of pockets of stones, some quite large.

A while after I arrived, a husband and wife and three young children with their grandfather also appeared on the beach. I chatted with them for a while, explaining what I was doing and showing them different stones. They were a Southland family enjoying an outing, and they mentioned they also visited Gemstone Beach. Liam, the husband, walked away and then came back with a small stone to give to me. It turned out to be a poppy jasper!

Liam’s small poppy jasper.

Other side of Liam’s small poppy jasper.

I told Liam I would send him some of my polished Gemstone Beach stones once I got home, including a poppy jasper.

Twelve other stones I found this afternoon… The first is an interesting partially-transparent orange one with tiny inclusions:

Small orange stone.

Held up to light.

And a small opaque black stone with orange crystals:

This next stone appears to be a colourful breccia:

Breccia.

These tiny elongated crystals caught my eye:

A green quartzite with some intriguing thin veins:

Quartzite.

The vein running across this stone also attracted my attention:

At one point I looked down and saw this stone grinning up at me – a grey banded argillite, with a drooped sediment layer and a small stress line:

Banded argillite.

There are usually a few trace fossils in argillite along this stretch of the coast – this stone was the best I found here this afternoon:

Trace fossils in argillite.

Two small hydrogrossular garnets, one mainly white, the other white and black:

Small hydrogrossular garnet.

Another small stone containing some hydrogrossular garnet.

These are very rare on Riverton Aparima beaches but the occasional one can be found – they are, of course, much more common on Gemstone Beach.

I also found another small poppy jasper to keep company with Liam’s find – though this one is not as well formed:

Poppy jasper.

Other side of poppy jasper.

And the, taking my last step off the beach, I saw this stone with a couple of red spots – it could be a third poppy jasper but again it is not well formed:

Poppy jasper?

Other side of stone.

My next fossick is at Kakanui on my way back north. An Index to this Series is here.

I visited the Back Beach for an hour after a rainy morning – the forecast storm turned out not to be too bad for the South. When I was a boy, our family had summer holidays at Riverton Aparima so a visit here again has nostalgic overtones.

Looking out towards Stewart Island Rakiura.

Back Beach stones, Riverton Aparima. Taken on phone camera.

Looking east, towards Bluff in the far distance.

Looking west.

The small cove at the western end of the beach.

Not long after I arrived on the beach, I picked up a small dark red jasper – and it turned out to be a poppy jasper!

Back Beach poppy jasper.

I found another one, with slightly bigger orbs, towards the end of the fossick:

Poppy jasper #2.

Other side of poppy jasper #2.

The only other time I’ve found poppy jaspers here was in a September 2024 fossick when I found two and my brother-in-law found one.

When looking at the photos of my finds in this Post, keep in mind that because of the cloudy weather we’re having, I was unable to take photos of my finds until the next day. This was still under challenging light conditions early in the morning, and some of the images reflect those difficulties.

A very dark brecciated jasper I found, in a kind of cylindrical shape:

Small brecciated jasper.

A different type of stone with a similar shape (not sure of its identification):

There are quartzites along this coast:

Quartzite #1.

Quartzite #2.

A bright orange stone which looks like a kind of quartz (maybe also a quartzite?):

A small polymictic breccia, a type of stone that can also be found along the south coast, including Gemstone Beach – “polymictic” means that it contains fragments from a number of different rocks:

Polymictic breccia.

Finally, this dark brown stone looked interesting to me:

My next fossick is over the hill, at The Beach Past the Back Beach. An Index to this Series is here.

This afternoon I spent an hour looking for stones at a Riverton beach I call “The Beach Past the Back Beach”. The Post “Some Recently Polished Stones from Riverton” includes a location map for this beach, and the entry for Day 14, Tuesday 2 March 2021 in this Post has photos and more information on it. I initially parked at the Back Beach, at the end of the road. While I was taking a photo of the Back Beach, a young man asked me if it were dolphins that he could see swimming in the bay. I would not have noticed them if he hadn’t mentioned them! There were about six Hector’s dolphins there, the same kind that I had seen at Ward Beach on 27 February, on my way south.

Hector’s dolphins, Back Beach, Riverton Aparima.

The guy on the rock was the one who pointed out the dolphins to me. He went to get a closer view.

The view of the Back Beach from the walking track over to The Beach Past the Back Beach.

I then walked over the sand dunes to The Beach Past the Back Beach. I collected 33 stones there today – good stones are not as common as at Gemstone Beach but some interesting ones can be found.

Seven of this afternoon’s finds are featured below. The first is a light tan colour with pieces of quartz in it:

There’s intense epidote green in this stone:

In contrast, there’s a light pink in a large part of this next stone. This is often due to the presence of manganese:

The “swirls” are solely on one side of this fourth stone:

Another example of one of those small red jaspers that, when viewed close-up, turns out to have a fascinating composition:

When I picked up the next small stone on the beach, I could see there was something interesting to be seen at one end of it. The close-up confirms this:

The final stone featured in this Post is a small argillite with a light-coloured pattern which includes three or four trace fossils:

Part 14 reports on a Gemstone Beach fossick which included the finding of a petrified wood stone. An Index to this Series is here.

Low tide.

Today’s nine finds.

Just a 30 minute fossick this afternoon on a cold cloudy day with a stiff breeze. The Back Beach is right on Foveaux Strait, with Stewart Island Rakiura on the southern horizon. There are a lot of stones on this beach though it was low tide and few of them were wet.

The Back Beach.

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

Today there was a lot of seaweed on parts of the beach.

A small patch of stones.

Low tide.

Some of the stones at the Back Beach.

Today’s nine finds.

The location of the Back Beach is 30 kilometres east of Gemstone Beach and there are some similarities in the kind of stones from these two beaches. However, in my view, the quality and diversity here are not as good as Gemstone Beach. Some great stones can be found here – see this 2022 Post – but they are harder to find.

Riverton Aparima itself lies about 40 kilometres west of Invercargill. It is the oldest pakeha settlement in Southland. A whaling station was first established here in the mid-1830s. Riverton Rocks, comprising Taramea Bay, Mitchell’s Bay and Henderson Bay, became an important seaside holiday destination. My grandparents owned a crib (holiday home) at Henderson Bay from the late 1950s/early 1960s and I spent many Christmas holidays there as a child.

Here are six of today’s finds. The first two are dark green brecciated stones of a type also found on Gemstone Beach:

Two different small rounded pebbles, the first with a flash of purple, the second with noticeable white quartz pieces within:

The final two featured finds are a nice smooth white stone with interesting inclusions, and a bright orange one:

Part 10 reports on a cold wet fossick at Gemstone Beach, highlighting 11 finds. An Index to this Series is here.

Today’s finds from Hendersons Bay.

I decided not to go out to Gemstone Beach today due to the cold wet weather. However, in the afternoon I got itchy feet and started to feel the need for a fossick. So I took the opportunity to drive two kilometres to a nearby beach in Riverton Rocks called Hendersons Bay – see “R is for Riverton Rocks Red Rock” in this Post for its location. As a child, I spent many happy summer holidays at this beach, so I know it well. When my mother supervised us there, sitting in the Southland sun, she often looked through the stones and told us of the interesting ones she found.

There are small scatterings of stones in a number of different places at Henderson Bay. Sometimes trace fossil stones can be found here but generally the best local fossicking area is the Back Beach, a little further round the Rocks. However, I thought I would see what I could find. I walked across the beach three or four times, spending nearly an hour there. I found a few interesting stones as a result. Due to continuing cloudy conditions, I was not able to take photos successfully of them until four days later, after I had reached Kakanui. Here are 12 of my finds.

The first has a really interesting texture:

Henderson Bay stone.

Other side of stone.

A small dark stone that turns out to be amygdaloidal:

Hendersons Bay amygdaloidal stone.

Other side of stone.

A veined quartzite with two different sides – and an interesting fragment in a vein on the first side:

Veined quartzite.

Other side of veined quartzite.

A very different veined quartzite:

Quartzite.

Maybe a small though colourful rhyolite:

The smallest find, the size of a fingernail – could be a jasper:

Small jasper.

Another side of the small jasper.

A third side of the small jasper.

A stone that reminds me of caramel:

The light green patch in this stone caught my eye:

Two stones that contain crystals that contribute to their character:

Lastly, two small green-hued stones:

Part 20 features 14 finds from a very cold fossick on Gemstone Beach. The Index to the Posts in this Series can be found here.

Coming up to high tide.

After a rest day yesterday, due to bad weather, I undertook two fossicks today. The first was at the Back Beach in Riverton Aparima, the scene of two previous fossicks on this trip, a week ago and three days ago. I collected 40 stones there during a 40 minute walk at high tide. It was a cold seven degrees, though the sun was shining most of the time. The waves were thundering in from Foveaux Strait and I had to keep a sharp eye out to avoid wet feet.

Riverton Aparima’s Back Beach.

Coming up to high tide.

Waves breaking over pillow lave rocks at the Back Beach.

Back Beach stones.

Back Beach stones.

A quieter small cove at the western end of the Back Beach.

Back Beach stones.

Here are eight of my finds. The first has some small fragmentation in it that caught my eye. I also like the gray hues in it. The stone is 5 cms long.

Back Beach stone with some brecciation.

Another side of the stone.

My second featured find is only 3 cms long but its white flashes stood out on the beach:

Another strongly coloured stone, this one is a deep orange with some interesting markings and a couple of tiny white specks:

The fourth find is a purple volcanic stone, another strong colour:

The following is a type of stone I have seen before along the Southland coast, a breccia with a range of interesting angular clasts (fragments):

Back Beach breccia.

Other side of the Back Beach breccia.

The last three stones lack the colour of the previous four but I find their compositions attractive. The first of them contains a black mineral in interesting small crystal shapes:

A scattering of black crystals in a quartzy stone:

And, finally, the black in this last stone is very tiny, like a scattering of fine grit:

Part 12 reports on Monday afternoon’s fossick on Gemstone Beach in bitterly cold conditions. The Index to the first ten Posts in this Series can be found here.

Ray (left) found the best of the poppy jaspers.

A couple of hours walking Riverton Aparima’s Back Beach (Southland), with my wife and brother-in-law, yielded a number of interesting finds. The weather was cool and cloudy but the wind was not too strong and the rain stayed away during the walk. I have been visiting this beach since I was a young boy as my family used to have a crib (bach) nearby. A brief introduction to Riverton Aparima is provided in this Post – see the second entry (“R is for Riverton Rocks Red Rock”). Here are some polished stones from the Back Beach. There are many similarities in the stones to be found here with the stones on Gemstone Beach, about 30 kilometres to the west. For example, banded ignimbrite and trace fossil argillite stones are found on both beaches, though hydrogrossular garnets tend not to make it to the Back Beach.

A brief period of sunshine in the late afternoon allowed me to photograph some of the finds – stones photograph best when wet and in bright sunshine. However, I didn’t have enough time to take good photos – some of the images of the 11 stones below have reflections or bright patches on them which obscure some details.

Today I (or, rather, we) found three poppy jaspers (orbicular jaspers) at the Back Beach. I have not seen them here before – I have found them on Gemstone Beach, and indeed I collected a handful there yesterday. Today’s best specimen was found by Ray, my brother-in-law.

Ray’s poppy jasper.

Other side of Ray’s poppy jasper.

And I found this one:

A poppy jasper I found.

I also found a handful of other very interesting dark red jaspers. Here are three of them (note that light reflections distort some small parts of these images):

Side A of small mossy jasper.

Side B of small mossy jasper.

Base of small mossy jasper.

Side A of small brecciated jasper.

Side B of small brecciated jasper.

Small jasper with chalcedony (jaspagate)?

I found a small brown rhyolite stone, a type that can also be found further east at Slope Point:

Rhyolite, Riverton Aparima Back Beach.

Some of this morning’s finds have interesting patterns within them, like these three:

Finally, two green stones, the first an argillite (indurated mudstone) with a dark intrusion of coarser material, and what is most likely a veined quartzite:

Argillite.

Quartzite.

Part 7 features a return to Gemstone Beach. The first Post in this Series can be found here.