Category: Slope Point

National Lockdown Number Two: Stone Three


To mark Day Three of this second National Lockdown in New Zealand, this is a small polished rhyolite stone from Slope Point.

Side 1 of small rhyolite stone from Slope Point.
Side 2 of small rhyolite stone.
Side 2 of small rhyolite stone.
View of the top of the stone.

Slope Point is the southernmost bit of land of the South Island, New Zealand, 70 kilometres east of Invercargill. Tourists are directed to a carpark and walk across a large paddock to a well-known sign high atop cliffs. The sea and wind can be especially ferocious there.

The southernmost point of the South Island.
The sign that Tourists like to photograph. No access to beaches at this point.

Slope Point is an area known for rhyolites and petrified wood, and other volcanic pebbles and petrified material. Rhyolite is a volcanic rock with a high silica content (obsidian, pumice and ignimbrite are common varieties of rhyolite). Rhyolite stones can be colourful, with intricate patterns, and they often polish well. Access to a beach in the Slope Point area is not straightforward – there are many high cliffs and no road goes close to any of the small beaches. Earlier this year I made contact with a local resident and rockhound, Oliver Simpson, through the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. In March, he showed me how to get to a beach there and we spent some time fossicking for stones. I made two other visits there with Oliver in June.

The Slope Point beach where the stone was found.
Oliver on the beach.

This stone was among the first batch of Slope Point stones that I polished, completed only recently, with another couple of batches due to finish over the next couple of weeks.

See here for an earlier Post introducing Slope Point and its stones.

Stone of the Day #4 is here.

FB Group Posts: 18, 19 & 20 June 2021 – Slope Point Again, Mokomoko Inlet, and Foggy Fossicking on Gemstone Beach

This is the fifth Post on my June 2021 stone collecting trip to the South Island, and is also the 15th Post in the Series of my daily Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post on my June trip is the Sunday 6 June entry in this Post, and the first in the Facebook Group Series is here.

Friday 18 June 2021: My second visit this trip to a beach near Slope Point (a 230 kilometres round trip from where I am based). Despite the cold day, Oliver Simpson agreed to accompany me. We went to a shaded beach again:

The stones on a shaded Slope Point beach.
The stones on a shaded Slope Point beach.

So I took the photos of today’s 10 selected stones afterwards, in the sun. Found a few interesting rhyolites and other stones. The first four:

Colourful rhyolite.
Chrysanthemum rhyolite.
Not really seen this kind of red before.

The third stone (above) looks like a “chrysanthemum rhyolite”.

The last six of today’s stones:

I have now driven 2200 kms since leaving home (Whanganui) 15 days ago.

Saturday 19 June 2021: Today I did some reading and research about trace fossils, following up a link with “mokomoko”, went to try to see some on the other side of Invercargill, was unsuccessful, and did 30 minutes of fossicking at Riverton/Aparima. The photos start with five beach stones:

The Beach Past the Back Beach at Riverton/Aparima.
Banded argillite.
Trace fossils.

Now to move to some research literature. Geoff Chapple states in his book “Terrain: Travels Through a Deep Landscape” that Maori called the trace fossils of the south coast “mokomoko” (see the Post for Thursday 6 May) and I’ve been looking for more information on this. I bought a book online recently from Dead Souls Bookshop, Dunedin, on fossils in New Zealand (mainly to see if it had anything about fossil coral – it has some). At the end of the book is a map which includes a reference to Mokomoko Inlet and trace fossils. This may be a key link. But were the traces named after the Inlet or the Inlet after the traces? (I suspect the latter.) I decided to go and visit Mokomoko Inlet to see if I could find the trace fossils. Doing a quick internet search, I found an old geology journal article with more information: David Mossman & Lucy Force, “Permian fossils from the Greenhills group, Bluff, Southland, New Zealand” in the “New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics” (1969). I drove to find the Inlet, but the side road to it was barred with a farmer’s fence so I turned around, nervous about intruding without discussing it first with the farmer.

The book bought from Dead Souls Bookshop. Published in 1990.
At the back of Hayward’s book.
The fossil localities in the 1969 article are located at the eastern end of the entrance to Mokomoko Inlet, where it connects to New River Estuary (Oreti River).
Trace fossils of Mokomoko Inlet. Page 669 in article.
More trace fossils of Mokomoko Inlet. Page 671 in article.
And the article refers to fossil coral – but that requires more research, maybe another tale for another day.

I will continue to do research and thinking about the trace fossils.

Sunday 20 June 2021: Foggy morning at Gemstone Beach today, but good fossicking.

Noon on a foggy winter Sunday at Gemstone Beach.
At the wave’s edge.
On the edge of Taunoa Stream.
Gemstone Beach stones.

Ten of the stones I found today, destined for tumble polishing:

Quite a small stone, but some bright reds.
Another small stone.
The only pink one found today.

The next Post in this Series is here.

FB Group Posts: 12, 13 & 14 June 2021 – Fossicking for Stones at Slope Point, Gemstone Beach and McCracken’s Rest

This is the third Post on my June 2021 stone collecting trip to the South Island, and is also the 13th Post in the Series of my daily Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post on my June trip is the Sunday 6 June entry in this Post, and the first in the Facebook Group Series is here.

Saturday 12 June 2021: Some of the stones I collected today near Slope Point (Southland). Many thanks to Oliver Simpson for hosting me again. The beach we visited was in shade and my photos were not as clear as usual, so no close-ups. NOTE – OCTOBER 2023 – Landowners are now refusing access to this beach, so please do not visit there without permission.

I was mainly looking for rhyolites, like this one.
Found by Oliver who kindly gave it to me.
Also found by Oliver and given to me.
A piece of black Southland petrified wood, to be added to the “stone garden” at home.
The beach near Slope Point.
Looking east.
Jaspers, quartzites, rhyolite, petrified wood, mudstone and many other kinds can be found here.
More stones on the beach.

However, right at end of the fossicking, we moved out of the shadows into the sun. I took photos in the sunlight of one of Oliver’s finds. He was interested in what the close-ups would reveal. It turned out to be a fascinating exercise.

Oliver’s stone. (He collects larger ones than I do.)
Close-up.
Even more detail.
Very close-up.
The other side of Oliver’s stone.

Sunday 13 June 2021: Seven stones found on Gemstone Beach this morning. It was raining so I didn’t use my camera on the beach – I took these photos later but the day was still wet and dull so the photos didn’t turn out as well as they could.

Small bright jasper.
Trace fossil stone. Quite bright traces on this one.
Amygdaloidal. Hard to get a clear photo.
Not sure what this one is. Some great tiny lines and waves.
I thought this was rhyolite but a closer look means I am not so sure.
Not the smoothest or shiniest, but nice pattern.
Amygdaloidal, I think. Again, not the clearest photo.

Monday 14 June 2021: Today’s fossicking was at McCracken’s Rest and Gemstone Beach. McCracken’s Rest is eight kilometres west of Gemstone Beach. Access to the beach from the road layby/lookout is not easy – I had to climb a fence and scramble down a slippery cliffside. Lots of stones on the beach, many quite large.

Photo taken this morning of Te Waewae Bay, from just east of Orepuki. Gemstone Beach is about a kilometre along the beach, McCracken’s Rest another 7 kilometres.
Looking back up at the McCracken’s Rest lookout from the beach. I climbed down the slope below it.
The lookout can just be seen top left. Lots of stones on the beach, many quite large.
Looking towards Pahia Hill from halfway down the slope below the lookout.
The stones on the beach below McCracken’s Rest.
Larger stones – I picked up about 8 red/reddish stones and grouped them around the central cream-coloured one for the photo. Far too big for a tumbler!
One of the sections of the beach dominated by larger stones.

However, there is not the diversity or quality of stones here that can be found at Gemstone Beach. The following are five of my most interesting finds found near McCracken’s Rest:

Trace fossils in argillite.

At Gemstone Beach, fossicking range was restricted by the Taunoa Stream being too high to ford. I wandered eastwards for a few hundred metres, an area usually clear of stones but with a few scattered there at present.

The Taunoa Stream, about 200 metres west of the carpark. Too high to ford today.
East of the carpark, a scattering of stones along the beach. Looking back towards the carpark.
The cliffs often slip, like this.
A stratum of well worn stones exists about 10 metres above the beach. Probably left by the sea long ago when sea levels were higher.
This brightly coloured layer sometimes emerges at the bottom of the cliffs.

Seven of today’s finds at Gemstone Beach:

Probably a rhyolite.

The next Post in this Series is here.

FB Group Posts: 29, 30 & 31 May 2021 – Gemstone Beach Purple Stone, Slope Point Petrified Wood, and a Slope Point Mystery

This is the ninth in this Series reproducing my recent regular Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post in this Series is here.

Saturday 29 May 2021: A stone for “Mrs Purple” – This is a recently tumble-polished stone found on Gemstone Beach (Orepuki, Southland) earlier this year, 4.5 cms long, has polished very well. It’s predominantly a dark stone, with some thin veins of intense purple and some creamy-white patches. I have a friend known as “Mrs Purple” who loves all kinds of things of that colour – I promised her I would send her some purple stones collected down south, so this one will soon go to her (see this Post for Mrs Purple’s stones).

Sunday 30 May 2021: Small three-sided stone of petrified wood, found at Slope Point on 3 March, finished tumble polishing on 19 May, 2.5 cms long. Most petrified wood in this area is black, this is an exception and stood out on the beach because of the light brown colour, showing the grain. It polished very well, with just one shallow indent on one side (left there because of the small size of the stone).

The small polished piece of petrified wood.
Side 1.
Side 2. Small indent apparent at left (top).
Side 3.
One of the ends of the polished stone.
Detail of the end grain.
The stone on the day it was found. View of Side 1.

Monday 31 May 2021: This small Slope Point stone came out of the tumble polisher with mixed results. Patches are very shiny but other parts are rough. There are still cracks on the surface. Looking carefully at photos of it led me to appreciate a number of aspects of the stone. When I found it on the beach, I thought it might be some kind of sandstone, or maybe even petrified wood. Given the grain patterns and textures revealed by the photos, I now wonder if it is petrified plant material of some other kind. An interesting mystery to me. [One Group member suggested that maybe this is petrified bone, another thought it could be petrified palm.]

Side 1 of stone. Its colour reminds me of an acorn.
A closer view reveals interesting textures and patterns.
Side 2 of stone. Some stripes are highly polished, others are rough.
Side 3 of stone.
A view of the end of the stone. Despite not looking so here, this is quite shiny.

The next Post in this Series is here.

FB Group Posts: 26, 27 & 28 May 2021 – Kakanui Quartzites and Slope Point & Gemstone Beach Stones

This is the eighth in this Series reproducing my recent regular Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post in this Series is here.

Tuesday 25 May 2021: This is the day I made a Post in the Group’s Alphabetical Series – “D” is for “Dendrites” – see this Post.

Wednesday 26 May 2021: Four small quartzite stones from Kakanui, recently tumble-polished. Between 2.5 cms and 3.5 cms in size, varying colours.

Red Kakanui quartzite.

Some research over the last couple of days has led me to the following: Quartzite is usually a metamorphosed sandstone. The intense heat and pressure of metamorphism causes the quartz grains to compact and become tightly intergrown with each other, resulting in a very hard and dense quartzite – see photo of quartzite under a microscope below (from https://www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/meta/quartzite.php – the very tightly packed quartz grains in this photo range in colour from white to gray to black depending upon their optical orientation).

The stones on the beach near Kakanui where I found these four small quartzites.
Microscopic view of quartzite from http://www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/meta/quartzite.php. Very tightly packed crystals. The colour of the crystals depends on their orientation to the view.
Page 34 in Thornton’s “Gemstones” https://www.onnaturesedge.co.nz/downloads/nzgemstones.pdf
Reference to “Quartzite from Central Otago”.

Geology.com reports that quartzite is usually white to gray in colour – if stained by iron, it can be pink, red, or purple, while the presence of other minerals can cause quartzite to be yellow, orange, brown, green or blue (see https://geology.com/rocks/quartzite.shtml). In her page on beach pebbles from Moeraki-Kakanui in “Gemstones”, Jocelyn Thornton includes a “Quartzite from Central Otago”, and the photo is of a stone very similar to Stone 3 (see photos above) – see page 34 here. On page 20, “Other Varieties of Silica”, Thornton notes: “Quartz sands cemented by silica make an extremely hard and durable quartzite which is found on some hillsides in Central Otago and washed down rivers and out along the coasts. These quartzites have cloudy patterns and take a very good polish.”

Thursday 27 May 2021: Three small recently tumbled stones from a beach near Slope Point in the Catlins, Southland. 2 cms to 4 cms in size. Jocelyn Thornton writes of Slope Point: “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” (page 35 here).

Interesting lines and patterns.
Opaque stone (not transparent).
Rhyolite.
The three small stones.
The beach just west of Slope Point, where the stones were collected.

Friday 28 May 2021: Small Gemstone Beach (Orepuki, Southland) polished stone, 3.5 cms long, collected earlier this year. Came out of a tumble barrel yesterday. Striking green lines.

Other side of stone.

[A comment on this Post from a resident of Scotland: “Love those epidote patterns, John. I am amazed that we have conglomerate cobbles from a Mississippi type delta down the Angus coast of Scotland that mirror the ones you post. These originated in Greenland/ N America poles apart”.]

The next Post in this Series is here.

FB Group Posts: 18, 20 & 21 May 2021 – Birdlings Flat Beach Agate and Slope Point Stones

This is the sixth in this Series reproducing my recent regular Posts in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. The first Post in this Series is here.

Tuesday 18 May 2021: Another recently tumble-polished small beach agate (chalcedony) from Birdlings Flat. Not banded this time. I decided to try to retain some of its outer character so did not wear away all of the brown and white material in the tumbler – and the result is very interesting. The stone is 3.5 cms long, having some small indentations but otherwise smooth.

One side of the polished stone.
Other side of the polished stone.
Held up to a sunny sky.

Wednesday 21 May 2021: This is the day I made a Post in the Group’s Alphabetical Series – “C” is for “Coral” – see this Post.

Thursday 20 May 2021: A small tumble-polished rhyolite from Slope Point (southern-most point of the South Island). Collected there on 3 March during a visit with Oliver Simpson [see previous Post]. Its wavy lines caught my eye on the beach.

It is a small stone.
One side of the polished stone.
Treasure
Another side of the polished stone, with a rough area apparent.
The beach near Slope Point on which the stone was found. To the right is the edge of a lagoon, with the open sea to the left (and ahead).
Oliver Simpson on the beach – many thanks to him for the day’s outing.

It has come out of a 3lb barrel this morning, my first completed batch of Slope Point stones. This stone is only 3 cms long and 1 cm wide. Because of its smallness, I didn’t completely smooth it before putting it into polish, doing only one week in 400 grit before a pre-polish and pro-polish

Friday 21 May 2021: Three small tumble-polished stones from my first (and so far only) fossicking visit to Slope Point (southern-most piece of land of the South Island), collected in early March, finished polishing yesterday.

Stone One, about 2.5 cms.
Another side of Stone One.
Stone Two, 4 cms long.
Other side of Stone Two.
Stone Three, 3 cms.
This sign stands at the place that the tourists get directed to. Fossicking beaches are nearby but not easy to access.
Slope Point and adjacent beaches. Source: Google Maps.

The next Post in this Series is here.

Another South Island Fossicking Trip, February/ March 2021 – Days 15 and 16 (Slope Point, Gemstone Beach)

The first Post in this Series is here.

Day 15, Wednesday 3 March – Slope Point. NOTE – OCTOBER 2023 – Landowners are now refusing access to this beach, so please do not visit there without permission. I spent four hours on a beach near Slope Point today, at low tide. Slope Point is the southernmost bit of land of the South Island, 70 kilometres east of Invercargill. The sea and wind can be ferocious here but today was very calm. I had visited the Point in 2018 but it is located high atop cliffs and I couldn’t see how to get down to any beach.

Slope Point is the southernmost part of the South Island. Source: Google Maps.
A photo taken when I visited Slope Point in 2018.
Slope Point itself is atop high cliffs with large waves pounding at it.
The small beach to the west of Slope Point that I visited with Oliver.

There is a useful page (p.35) on Slope Point in Jocelyn Thornton’s “Gemstones”. It is an area known for rhyolites and petrified wood and other volcanic pebbles and petrified material. Rhyolite is a volcanic rock with a high silica content (obsidian, pumice and ignimbrite are are common varieties of rhyolite). There is a photo of tumble-polished Slope Point rhyolites on Craig McGegor’s website. In 2019, I met Jack Geerlings on Gemstone Beach – he is a long-time rock hound and polisher from Winton. He invited me to visit him to view his collection. He had a number of polished rhyolite stones from Slope Point there.

Jack Geerling’s display of Slope Point rhyolite.
Jack Geerling’s collection.
Part of Jack Geerling’s display of Slope Point rhyolite.
Another part of Jack Geerling’s display of Slope Point rhyolite.

Access to a beach in the Slope Point area is not straightforward but it is well worth the efforts to get down to a beach. Many thanks to Oliver Simpson, contacted through the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils” for a very companionable time and for sharing his knowledge.

Looking at the northeast end of the small beach near Slope Point.
Looking back at where we had to drive to, over a couple of paddocks.
The stones on this Slope Point beach.
In behind the beach is a small lagoon with petrified wood in it.
Petrified wood in the small lagoon.

I found a few interesting stones, some of which were rhyolites, others maybe petrified wood or other material, along with some other kinds of stones like jasper and quartz.

Not sure what kind of stone this is – it could contain small fossils.
Probably rhyolite.
Jasper, I think.
I don’t know what this stone is. It was found by Oliver who generously gave it to me when I admired it.
Probably rhyolite.
Probably rhyolite.
Probably rhyolite.
Also probably rhyolite.

Petrified wood:

A hunk of petrified wood on the beach, about 15 cms across.
There are pieces of petrified wood in the rocks – this piece is about 4 cms long.
A lot of the petrified wood here is very dark, common in Southland.
Small piece of petrified wood.
Even smaller piece of petrified wood.
Two of Oliver’s pieces of petrified wood, each about 10-12 cms wide.

Finally, a few more Slope Point beach pebbles:

A type of quartz pebble.
Some kind of fossilised forest floor or??
Maybe a jasper?
Slope Point breccia.

Day 16, Thursday 4 March – 8th visit to Gemstone Beach. I spent four hours here today, around low tide. It was a cooler day, with a stiff wind, 12 degrees to start with. By the end of the four hours, it was sunny, my backpack was heavy, and it was 17 degrees.

Low tide at Gemstone Beach this morning.
Gemstone Beach stones.
This bank of stones is about 4 to 5 metres high.
Gemstone Beach stones.

Here’s six of my interesting finds:

Very unusual construction.
Gorgeous jasper.
Quartz.
Quartzite.
The mauve colour in this stone caught my attention. Probably mineral-stained quartz.
Interesting stone texture.

Another five interesting finds:

The ligh-coloured material is a higher surface than the dark.
Fine veins and pastel colours.
One of the hydrogrossular garnets I found today.
This type of stone can be found from time to time on the southern coast.
After my visit to Slope Point yesterday, I became more aware of rhyolite on Gemstone Beach.

Many stones on the beach are gorgeous but not all can be tumble polished, so I leave them behind. Some are too big or too pitted or too soft. Some examples from today of the “too big” type:

Quartz. Too big to tumble – left on the beach.
Also just a big too big.
Banded argillite. Left on beach as too big for my tumblers.
I wonder if the white material might be agate?? Or quartz?? Close-up next photo. Left on the beach because too big.
Quartz, too big.
Breccia with shell fossil, too big.

The next Post in this Series, for Days 17 and 18, reports on visits to Gemstone Beach but in contrasting circumstances, during a national tsunami alert.