Category: Slope Point

Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 29, Third and Last Fossick at a Slope Point Beach, Tuesday 19 March

Today’s weather turned out to be sunny and warm so I decided to undertake my third visit this trip to a Slope Point beach (described here in 2023). I drove east for 90 minutes from Riverton Aparima and arrived two hours after high tide. The sea was calm and I spent a good two hours on the small beach. I searched the dry stones much more than the wet ones – the spots and lines of interesting igneous stones can be spotted even in the dry.

On the way down to the beach.
The small stony beach.
A fine day, a calm sea, a receding tide.

My most interesting find was this small stone – on the beach, the white areas attracted my eye and then up-close inspection showed the dark green crystals. Once photographed, zooming in on the stone suggests some of the white areas may be agate. I took nine photos of the stone but because it is so small and much of it is dark, it was difficult to get good clear images up close – the third and fourth photos below are from different images than the first two as they best showed the upper and lower areas of the stone:

But my most surprising find today was a small spherical beach agate (chalcedony) – I’ve not seen a beach agate on this beach before but found them further north, at Kakanui for example. And it photographs well. One side, including when held up to the bright sky:

And the other side:

Some other unusual finds:

Eight of my other finds are below, most of them probably rhyolite:

The next Part of this Series reports on my second-last fossick, for this trip, at Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.

Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 27, “Watch the World Spin in Waves… I Threw Stones at the Stars” (Isakov’s “The Stable Song”), Sunday 17 March

Part 27

Two days without a fossick! The rain and wind and cold and maybe the need for rest and renewing of energy, all keeping me inside. So I did two things – reviewed my finds so far, picking out my favourite 24. And I listened to music more than usual.

Five favourite dark red jaspers that I picked out:

Five lighter coloured reddish and pink stones that I find very appealing:

Four stunning stones with significant white or light-coloured elements:

Seven of my valued finds that are yellow-orange in colour:

And the final three are gorgeous greens:

Listening to music over these two days, I got the chance to deepen my appreciation for Gregory Alan Isakov’s “The Stable Song”, chanced upon sometime during the past year. Commentators all hold a great respect for the song, praising its intelligence, tenderness and beauty (e.g., jamesdennard.com and folkalley.com). Though they differ on what the song is about, the meaning of the lyrics (which can be found after the YouTube clip below) proving elusive. The lyricist himself says it’s just a poem about everything. It’s maybe about songwriting and inspiration and success, and, yes, about things in life that mean a lot, like music and stones and diamonds and coal…

“The Stable Song”
by Gregory Alan Isakov

Remember when our songs were just like prayers
Like gospel hymns that you caught in the air
Come down, come down, sweet reverence
Unto my simple house and ring
And ring

Ring like silver, ring like gold
Ring out those ghosts on the Ohio
Ring like clear day wedding bells
Were we the belly of the beast or the sword that fell?
We’ll never tell

Come to me cold and clean
On that sea
Watch the world spin in waves
On that machine

Now I’ve been crazy, couldn’t you tell?
I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell
Now I’m covered up in straw, belly up on a table
Well, I laughed and drank, and passed in the stable

That tall grass grows high and brown
Well, I dragged you straight in the muddy ground
And you sent me back to where I roam
Well, I cursed and I cried, but now I know
Oh, and now I know

Yeah, and I ran back to that hollow again
The moon was just a sliver back then
Yeah, and I ached for my heart like some tin man
When it came, oh, it beat and it boiled and it rang
It’s ringing

Ring like crazy, ring like hell
Turn me back toward that wild-haired gale
Ring like silver, ring like gold
Turn these diamonds straight back into coal…

*******

Part 28 features a Gemstone Beach fossick after some rain which raised the flow of the Taunoa Stream and pushed the Waimeamea River to breach its lagoon barrier. The Series Index is here.

Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 24, Second Slope Point Fossick, Wednesday 13 March

I made the trip over to Slope Point again today (see here for my earlier visit this trip) and spent just over two hours on the small beach near an isolated holiday home – the beach and its location is described here.

The stony beach here is only about 200 metres long.
I found the fossil tree fern stone while sitting on a rock on the beach below this holiday house.

I have been advised on three different occasions now that this beach is the only one that local landowners are allowing access to. The weather was cool, staying at around 12 degrees during my time there, and there was some wind and the occasional light shower of rain. In her booklet, “Gemstones” (1985), Jocelyn Thornton has an entry on Slope Point. She writes: “On the Southland coast between Waipapa Point and Haldane there are a few pebbly beaches visited by fishermen and rock collectors. The cliffs contain layers of conglomerates with pebbles which weather out and collect on the beaches. At first glance they appear dark, but closer examination reveals a multitude of subtle colours and patterns.” She goes on to note that, for stone fossickers, “the prize is petrified punga, found as black nodules barely showing the eyed grain of the fern”. Her photos show three specimens of petrified punga or tree fern (what’s a punga?), and I once found one with faint markings. Today, as I was sitting on a rock, resting before leaving the beach to tackle the steep climb back to my car, the edge of a dry stone with squiggles in it caught my eye – it turned out to be a spectacular piece of fossilised tree fern. This side is the “busiest”:

This is the other side:

Note that “punga” is often used as a collective term for all tree ferns and “ponga” is the specific Maori name for the silver fern, Cyathea dealbata.

When I arrived down at the beach, a couple from Whakatane were also there. The man was searching for fossilised wood in the large rocks along the north of the cove. I chatted to the woman about some of the stones to be found on the beach, especially igneous ones such as rhyolite. The man joined us after his hunt, with three large black fossil wood specimens, and he also showed me photos of a couple of large pieces in situ, one dark-coloured and one light-coloured. In my fossicking I found only a couple of small pieces of black petrified wood but collected quite a few rhyolite stones. Some of them had intriguing orb-like material within them, some of the orbs being tiny but some larger.

Jasper.

Ten more of my finds which are likely to be rhyolites:

Four stones of other types or unknown:

Tiny but bright breccia stone.
Iron oxide stained quartz?
Black igneous stone with interesting white crystals and thin red veins.

I managed to find enough stones to justify the 90 minutes drive each way and the walk back up the steep hill to the car, carrying them all.

Part 25 describes a three hour cold weather fossick at Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.

Early 2024 Fossicking Trip – Part 16, A Sunny Slope Point Fossick, Saturday 2 March

Last year I had heard that a fossicker had been told that they could not cross private land to get to one of the Slope Point beaches. But I have also become aware that fossickers and fishers are still visiting one or more of these beaches. In preparation for a reconnaissance trip to check things out, I did some research on “unformed legal roads” (also known as “paper roads”) in New Zealand (see www.herengaanuku.govt.nz/types-of-access/unformed-legal-roads/ and the link there “How to find unformed legal roads”). Such “roads” are legally defined but have not been built. Their legal status means that the public can follow them as routeways even though they pass through farmland. New Zealand does not have the same kind of traditional system of public rights of way as England has, for example. And unformed legal roads are not well known to most New Zealanders.

The bay we were aiming for. From my 2023 Post.
The beach and stones of the bay. From my 2023 Post.
Red = The bay we were going to. Purple = unformed legal roads. Blue = The gravel road we drove down. Source: https://maps.herengaanuku.govt.nz/Viewer/?map=9cd99517a0db4d18a894c3839df4d3a3
Chrissy on the beach, 2024.

I discovered that the customary route to the beach I wanted to visit actually followed an unformed legal road for part of the way. And if needed, an extension of that road could be followed to the coast further along, though adding some distance to the customary route. So I decided to drive the 90 minutes to Slope Point late this morning, to arrive about an hour before low tide. I was accompanied by fellow fossicker Chrissy Hellyer, who had not looked for stones at Slope Point before. Her account of the fossick appears in her blog, under the heading “Rockhounding at Slope Point”.

Slope Point is the southernmost part of the South Island, located about 70 kilometres east of Invercargill. Tourists are directed to a carpark from where they can walk across a windswept paddock to the top of high rocky cliffs looking out over a wild sea. Fossickers for beach stones have to drive a couple of kilometres further along a narrow gravel road before crossing paddocks down awkward slopes to reach their goal.

When Chrissy and I arrived today, we saw the usual signposts warning about the need for four-wheel drive vehicles, but nothing else forbidding access. So we walked to the beach, following the customary routeway – this is described in this Post written in March 2023. I was later advised by a local that the beach we went to is still allowed to be accessed by rockhounds by walking down the track we had used. However, other beaches in the area cannot be accessed through private land, only by walking around the coastline.

The sea was very calm today – it is often quite rough, which is why the period before low tide is the best time for fossicking. The sun was out and it was a warm day. This beach contains a lot of granite stones, rhyolites, breccia and sometimes some petrified wood. Jocelyn Thornton’s booklet “Gemstones” has a page on Slope Point stones – see page 35 here. But there’s also lots of stones I don’t have the knowledge to identify. I thought that there were four of my finds worthy of close examination. The first below is one of the mystery ones to me, but it has some tiny areas of agate in it; the second is, I think, an orbicular rhyolite; the third is another mystery, its tiny colourful spots having caught my eye; and the fourth is a green coloured mystery stone with tiny white crystals and maybe some other stuff.

Eight more of my finds, all of which caught my eye because of their interesting colours, veins, spots or patterns.

Granite with quartz band.
Rhyolite.
Porphyry.
Rhyolite.

We spent a good couple of hours collecting stones, then it must have taken us at least 20 minutes to climb back up the hill with a heavy load to the car. Then it was another 90 minutes in the car back to Riverton. Exhausting, but well worth it!

Part 17 features a brief (60 minutes) fossick back at Gemstone Beach. The Series Index is here.

Restrictions on Access to Slope Point Beaches

The beaches of Slope Point, at the bottom of the South Island, have long featured as fossicking areas for rockhounds. The beaches are not easy to find and all the “Slope Point” signposts take you to the tourist carpark and an area of high cliffs. I finally worked out how to get to a couple of beaches early in 2021 and have since visited them maybe three or four times each year. Their stones are unusual and interesting.

You need to cross paddocks and follow farm tracks for a few hundred metres to get to these beaches. They seem to be visited often by fishers and there is signage warning about catch limits and the need to beware of rough seas when on the rocks. A recent news article mentions that in the last ten years there have been four water-related incidents resulting in fatalities within a five kilometre radius of Slope Point (Southland Times), the latest at the beginning of this month.

I have been advised by two different parties that landowners are now refusing access across their land to Slope Point beaches. I don’t know why this has arisen, and I don’t know if they will make exceptions for Rock and Mineral Clubs.

Southern Sojourn 2023(50): An Orbicular Rhyolite and A Large Piece of Petrified Wood, A Return to Slope Point, Saturday 22 April

Post 50
Post 51 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/southern-sojourn-202351-a-bunch-of-quirky-stones-from-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-sunday-23-april/
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3

This morning I made my last visit for this Southern Sojourn to Slope Point (I’m heading home to Whanganui in a week’s time). I went to the same beach as featured in Post 30. The weather was wet for much of the time and so were all the stones on the beach – this made spotting the interesting ones a bit easier. Despite trying to be selective, I ended up collected 9.5 kilograms of small stones, about 130 stones in all. The best of all these was this gorgeous orbicular rhyolite:

Slope Point orbicular rhyolite.
Other side of stone.

My most interesting find today, however, was a large piece of petrified wood (26 cms long, 2.5 kilograms weight). On my way to the beach where I collected my pebbles, the fact that it was low tide meant that I could nose around some rocks in an area I haven’t been to before. At one point I stopped to check my backpack. Looking down, I saw this large piece of brown petrified wood. It was partly under another large stone but came free easily. While photographing it, I kept finding little areas of agate. Even though I won’t be able to tumble-polish it, I am very happy to have such a fine specimen.

One side of the large piece of petrified wood.
Other side of piece.

Three more of the small stones I found that had interesting detail:

Other side of stone.
Other side of stone.
Some agate in this stone.
A little druzy on this side of the stone.

Three light-coloured stones with intriguing detail:

Three more visually interesting Slope Point finds:

So it’s farewell to Slope Point for now. Until next time!

The stones on this Slope Point Beach today.
Halfway up the steep climb back to the car, backpack heavy.
The 130 small stones I collected today.

Post 51 features some “quirky” stones. The first Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Southern Sojourn 2023(45): Fine Autumn Fossick, Black Point Beach, Slope Point, Saturday 15 April

Post 45
Post 46 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/18/southern-sojourn-202346-a-mixed-but-gorgeous-lot-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-monday-17-april/
Post 47 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/18/southern-sojourn-202347-mvp-and-seven-runners-up-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-tuesday-18-april/
Post 48 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/20/southern-sojourn-202348-a-selective-two-hour-fossick-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-thursday-20-april/
Post 49 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/southern-sojourn-202349-photographing-whats-there-gemstone-beach-friday-21-april/

This afternoon I travelled to Slope Point, 90 minutes by car from my accommodation in Riverton Aparima. I met up there with Oliver, a fossicking buddy, and we drove to the beach near Black Point (see map below). We spent about two and a half hours on the beach in bright sunshine, with a quiet sea lazily providing gently lapping waves. This is all unusual for autumn in this area, so we made the most of the opportunity. I soon noticed that the beach was not made up of fine sand but of millions of teeny tiny stones, often in patches graded by size.

The beach we visited, near Black Point. Source: http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-46.667965,168.97629&z=14
Looking northeast from the beach, Slope Point in the far distance.
Looking south along the beach.
A patch of tiny stones on the beach.
Close-up of previous photo.
Even closer.
A patch of even tinier stones!
Close-up of previous photo.
Even closer.

I collected some of the small pea-size stones for use in my tumbling barrels.

The past few days had seen the sea push up a good mix of stones scattered across small areas of the beach. Slope Point rhyolite stones are amazing for their complexity, mix of crystals and orbs, colourful fine veins, and tiny sections of agate. I always look forward to discovering them, on the beach and in the photos I take later. Oliver kindly gave me quite a few pebbles he came across. We fossicked mainly along the wave’s edge but later wandered further up the beach where the sea had deposited stones recently, on the high point between the sea and the lagoon in behind. The stones here were dry so harder to discern their colours and patterns, but we found enough in this area to make it well worth the effort. Generally, during the first half of the fossick, Oliver was finding four pretty stones to my one, it seemed. Later, once I adjusted my fossicking style, I started finding more – I had to get closer to the stones (bend over more often) and pause to search more carefully (moving stones around with my fingers).

The sea had brought a wash of stones high up the beach – to the right, the ground falls away to a lagoon.
Close-up of recently deposited stones.
Oliver fossicking on the dry stones – my now-heavy packpack in view.
Slope Point (and tiny tourists) circled in background.
Oliver fossicking among the dry stones.

One of my valued finds was this small petrified wood stone. The black and brown and white (quartz or agate) make these stones especially attractive:

Two other stones that may also be fossilised organic material:

May be fossilised forest floor material.

The next stone attracted some interest when I posted it on the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. It was suggested that it looked like a “joon agate”. As Craig McGregor notes, joon agates were first identified by John Earl and Gordon Auton (“joon” is a term made by joining “jo” from the start of “John” with “on” from end of “Auton”). They found specimens of this rock in Awarua Bay, which is maybe 45 kilometres west of Slope Point. McGregor goes on to note that these stones have also been found on farmland in Tokanui (about seven kilometres inland from Slope Point), and sometimes in the Hedgehope River (further inland again). Oliver had found the stone early on in our fossick and generously handed it to me.

Oliver also found this little stone with agate in it. We both noticed the small “fortification” on one side, and the photos revealed other agate bits to me later:

Three more stones that caught my eye:

The white spot caught my eye.
Other side of stone.
Fine lines.
Rhyolite.

A stone with some strange seemingly disparate elements:

Other side of stone.

Five other stones that had features that also caught my eye:

Gray rhyolite.
Rhyolite with some orbs.
The obvious little circle centre left caught my eye.
Small light coloured patches.
Dark, with circular features.

The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series involves a return to Gemstone Beach/Te Waewae Bay. The first Post in the Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Southern Sojourn 2023(30): Journeying to a Slope Point Beach, Monday 27 March

Post 30 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/03/29/southern-sojourn-202330-journeying-to-a-slope-point-beach-monday-27-march/
Post 31 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/03/29/southern-sojourn-202331-eight-stones-found-on-a-cold-day-on-gemstone-beach-wednesday-29-march/
Post 32 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/03/30/southern-sojourn-202332-a-lagoon-crossing-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-thursday-30-march/
Post 33 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/03/31/southern-sojourn-202333-four-hour-fossick-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-friday-31-march/
Post 34 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/06/southern-sojourn-202334-arrival-of-nicola-and-angie-gemstone-beach-te-waewae-bay-monday-3-april-part-1/

NOTE March 2024: I have been advised that currently this is the only Slope Point fossicking beach to which access is allowed by landowners. This morning I drove 90 minutes east from Riverton to Slope Point, the southernmost tip of the South Island. Slope Point has cropped up in NZ rockhounding books etc. for many years, but it can be difficult to visit. Problems with access, especially the steep slopes and distance from good roads, mean that the fossicker has to be determined and prepared to carry heavy finds some distance back up-hill. Wet weather and slippery muddy conditions exacerbate the difficulty. Rock and Mineral Club expeditions sometimes head this way. For example, a group associated with the Tauranga Gem and Mineral Club visited last month. There are apparently three beaches here that fossickers visit, I have been to two of them. Some of the Slope Point stones have arisen from Jurassic Era volcanic activity and debris flows. Petrified wood, fossil tree fern, colourful rhyolites and interesting breccia can be found there. Before I describe some of my finds, I will describe how I got to the beach.

Driving past the tourist carpark, along Slope Point Road, I followed a narrow gravel road for about a kilometre and parked just off to the side, immediately after a “4WD ONLY” sign (see photos below). This small informal parking area is opposite a track which branches off sharply to the left and goes down the hill. There are two gates on this track – the first I could unlatch and walk through, but the second is chained and padlocked. The second gate also has barbed wire running along its side, making it difficult to climb. I made sure to climb over at the hinge end, the most stable end.

1 = Tourist Car Park. 2 = Informal parking area. 3 = Fossicking beach. 4 = Another fossicking beach I have been to. Base map = Google Maps https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-46.6683813,168.9849223,1860m/data=!3m1!1e3
My car at the informal parking area.
The track to the beach branches off to the left.
The two gates. The bach shows up as a small white rectangle. The tracks down to the beach are apparent here. Base map = Google Maps https://www.google.co.nz/maps/@-46.6664195,168.979261,391m/data=!3m1!1e3
Looking down the track at the 2 gates.
Aimed, I presume, mainly at people going fishing or collecting paua, but fossickers should also take note!
I’m walking to the bay in the bottom left. Slope Point and the tourist car park are in the middle distance – see next photo…Tourists take a long walk from the car park to the Point.
Tourists on faraway Slope Point.
Gate 2. I climbed it at the hinge end, the strongest point. This avoids possibly damaging the swing of the gate.
Gate 2 is chained and padlocked. Barbed wire runs along the side. Fences nearby have two strands of barbed wire on top.
After climbing Gate 2, I turn right to follow this grassy track. It then turns left and winds down to the beach.

Once over the second gate, I turned right and walked on a grassy track along the fence until it turned left and went downhill towards the beach. After going down a steepish slope, I passed by what looks like an old holiday bach/crib (see photo below), down to a small stony beach with a high steep cliff along one side. The tide was going out but the waves had a lot of energy. For safety, I fossicked about two or three metres from where they were reaching. I spent three hours on the beach.

The little bay I was walking down to, from halfway down.
The old bach/crib just above the beach.
The beach, when I arrived.
The beach, when I left.
Some of the stones on this Slope Point beach.
More stones.
One of the conglomerate rocks on the beach.
Conglomerate close-up.

When driving back down the narrow road, I met a Department of Conservation vehicle, then another from Environment Southland. We had to slow right down and squeeze past each other. This road needs to be driven with a lot of care.

More information on Slope Point can be found here.

To turn to some of the finds from my fossick today. The most interesting was a rough little stone (3 cm at its longest) that I nearly abandoned until I glimpsed some patterns on one side. This is a chrysanthemum rhyolite, the “chrysanthemums” being cross-sections through large spherulites that formed the rock. It is worth tumble polishing for that one patterned side alone.

The surface showing the “chrysanthemums”.
Another side of the stone.
A very plain side.

Another stone I nearly left on the beach is this large breccia, 7 cm long. I thought it rather subdued in colour, but liked its composition. When I took photos of it back at my accommodation, the close-ups revealed what I assume to be a complex crystal structure. 

Two other breccia stones, both gorgeous in their own way – the first is light in colour but packed with tiny fragments of many different colours, the second consists of variations of red and white.

Some of the rhyolites I collected (though the fourth I’m not sure of):

Nice small green rhyolite.
Small dark rhyolite.
Rhyolite.
Could be rhyolite, not sure.

Four more finds:

Some colour in this stone.
It looks like dendrites in this stone.

I was exhausted by the time I got back to Riverton Aparima, but the trip was well worth it.

The next Post in the “Southern Sojourn 2023” Series takes us back to Gemstone Beach again. The first Post in the Series is here. The Index to the Series is here.

Southern Sojourn 2023(5): Slope Point, Two Visits, Monday & Tuesday 23 & 24 January

Post 5 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/southern-sojourn-slope-point-two-visits-monday-tuesday-23-24-january/
Post 6 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/southern-sojourn-two-visits-to-gemstone-beach-friday-monday-27-30-january/
Post 7 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/southern-sojourn-gemstone-beach-fossick-wednesday-1-february/
Post 8 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/southern-sojourn-big-and-small-from-gemstone-beach-friday-3-february/
Post 9 https://tumblestoneblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/08/southern-sojourn-seven-stones-from-gemstone-beach-saturday-4-february/

Slope Point is the southernmost tip of the South Island. It lies 115 kilometres east of Riverton Aparima. Tracey Kidd and I went there on these two days, meeting up both times with Oliver Simpson who kindly drove us to two of the Point’s fossicking beaches. One beach in particular proved very productive on the Monday.

I particularly like many of the interesting rhyolites and volcanic brecciated stones that can be found on these beaches. Pieces of petrified wood are often there, especially of the black variety, though it is the lighter coloured ones that are most attractive. I still find that I can’t identify many Slope Point stones with any certainty, but I don’t need to for them to be excellent for tumble polishing.

Among the rhyolites I found were some colourful ones and some orbicular ones:

Rhyolite.
Small rhyolite, a little larger than a jellybean.
Orbicular rhyolite.
Probably orbicular rhyolite.
Orbicular rhyolite.
Orbs in rhyolite.
Composed of tiny orbs?

Some of the rhyolites have interesting patterns in them:

Among the volcanic brecciated stones (and similar) I collected were these:

Very dark brecciated volcanic stone.
Brecciated volcanic stone?
Brecciated volcanic stone?
Brecciated volcanic stone? Had a comment from one person that this could be “ash combo” material.
Brecciated volcanic stone?

A gorgeous piece of light-coloured petrified wood with some agate in it, about 2 cm long:

Slope Point petrified wood stone.
Another side of the petrified wood.

The final four stones have some interesting and unusual features.

Seems to be a round-ish inclusion in this one. Stone is likely to be volcanic, so inclusion probably not a fossil.
Stress fracture?
Found a number of quartz stones like this. Not noticed them here before.
The orange crystals caught my eye.

The first Post in this Series is here. Two further fossicks on Gemstone Beach feature in the next Post. The Index to the Series is here.

Slope Point Diversity, 25 Recently Polished Slope Point Stones: Part Three – Stones 17 to 25

This Series of Posts features Slope Point stones from a recently completed 3lb barrel. The first Post featuring Stones 1 to 8 can be found here. The order of presentation of stones is random. Many of them are likely to be rhyolite but I am unsure about the identification of some of them.

Stone 17 is a purple rhyolite, 4.5 cm long:

Stone 17, rhyolite.
Other side of Stone 17.

Stone 18 is a brown rhyolite, 3.5 cm long:

Stone 18, rhyolite.
Other side of Stone 18.

Stone 19 is a black rhyolite, somewhat similar to Stones 7 and 14 (see previous Posts):

Stone 19, rhyolite.
Another side of Stone 19.
Another side of Stone 19.

Stone 20 is a white and caramel stone, I am unsure of its identification – other light-coloured stones include Stones 7 and 15:

Stone 20.
Other side of Stone 20.

Stone 21 is very different in colour – green – from the other stones in this Series. I suspect it has volcanic origins but am unsure of its identification.

Stone 21.
Other side of Stone 21.

Stones 22 , 23, 24 and 25 are the smallest stones in the batch. Stones 22 and 23 are each 2.5 cm long while Stones 24 and 25 are only 2 cm long each. Stone 22 might be rhyolite:

Stone 22, probably rhyolite??.
Other size of Stone 22.

Most of the surface of Stone 23 failed to polish but there are some fascinating patterns in it:

Stone 23.
Another side of Stone 23.
Another side of Stone 23.

Stones 24 and 25 are both rhyolite, in my view, with Stone 25 especially showing some nice flow banding:

Stone 24.
Other side of Stone 24.
Stone 25, small flow banded rhyolite.
Other side of Stone 25.

I continue to be fascinated by the diversity of Slope Point stones which are quite different from the stones I find at the likes of Gemstone Beach and Kakanui.