Category: Ward Beach

The drive yesterday through Canterbury to Ward in Southern Marlborough was a cold one – two to three degrees most of the time, very windy, and snow occasionally mixed in with the rain. This morning on Ward Beach, things had improved a lot – it was sunny with a light wind though the temperature was only seven degrees. I spent less than half an hour on the beach and collected no more than a dozen stones, most of them limestone pebbles.

Ward Beach, looking south.

Looking north.

At the waves’ edge.

My limestone finds came in a range of colours and sometimes with veins, sometimes brecciated (fragmented):    

This one has trace fossils in it:

At first glance, this next one looks like jasper but the material is more likely limestone, the dark red (and black) from the presence of an iron oxide mineral:

Finally, something different, what is likely to be a small igneous stone of some sort, with different kinds of crystals in it:

After this fossick I drove to Picton to catch an early afternoon ferry to the North Island, reaching home that night.

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

I’m heading to Invercargill for the launch of “What’s This Stone?”, a small book by Chrissy and me. This will take place on 10 September at the monthly meeting of the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club (7pm in the Seminar Room at First Presbyterian Church, 155 Tay Street – the book will come out after the evening’s guest speaker – everyone welcome). I could have flown down but decided to drive and stop off at a few beaches as well as spend a few days in the South.

When I left Whanganui on Friday 4 September, it was raining heavily and the wind was very strong. Just south of Sanson, I watched three ducks furiously flapping, trying to make headway into the wind, and actually going backwards. My Cook Strait ferry company advised my sailing would be leaving 60 to 90 minutes late due to high winds affecting berthing. However, things settled sooner than expected and it left just five minutes after the scheduled time. The Strait had the odd big wave but generally the crossing was fairly smooth. 

On Friday night, I stayed at Flaxbourne Motels in Ward. On Saturday morning, before driving to Christchurch, I visited Ward Beach for 30 minutes. Arriving at 10am, the morning was cloudy and cool, 12 degrees, with a cold breeze. The tide was coming in and was fairly high, though the sea was relativelt calm and flat. There were a number of whitebaiters on the Flaxbourne River, a woman walking the beach picking up shells and stones, and just as I left, a couple arrived to head off on a walk to find the Ward Beach boulders. 

I didn’t come away with many finds this morning, only 20. Five of them are featured below. The first two are limestone pebbles with trace fossils in them:     

 The next two are variations of white (probably volcanic) stones with dark crystals:

Finally, what could be a limestone pebble with a bright white vein along the edge of which are black dendrites, thin branching crystals, usually of some variety of manganese oxide:     

 Next stop, in two days’ time, is Kakanui’s Seadown Beach.

An Index to the Posts in this Series is here.

This Series was published on 31 August 2024. It features tumbled Ward Beach stones that I gave to Ian and Ronnie, owner-operators of  the Flaxbourne Motels in Ward. I regularly stay there overnight on my way south or north during my stone collecting trips, and Ian and Ronnie have showed a keen interest in my rockhounding, especially at nearby Ward beach.   

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1 – Trace Fossils in Limestone

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2 – Other Limestone Pebbles

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3 – Stones With Veins; Stones With Dendrites

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4 – Stones Containing Both Soft and Hard Material

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5 – Hard Stones

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The final fossick for this trip took place today on a sunny nine degrees afternoon, between 12.50pm and 1.50pm. This was an hour earlier than yesterday’s fossick which turned out to be significant. The sun was a bit higher in the sky and cast fewer shadows on the stones, making them a lot easier to see. These are today’s finds, 13 of which are featured in the Post below:

As a result of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, Ward Beach experienced significant uplift of about two and a half metres. The change in ground level forced the Flaxbourne River to abandon its estuary and cut through the former estuary bed and gravel beach deposits, exposing the bedrock beneath (Geotrips). Today I walked along to the river mouth and wandering up the river for a couple of hundred metres. There were patches of stones to search there, and some bird wildlife to observe.

Shags roosting on limestone outcrops near the mouth of the Falxbourne River.

Two shags braved the turbulent water at the river mouth.

Heron on uplifted limestone.

Uplifted bedrock a couple of hundred metres upstream from the river mouth. Weld Cone in background.

I also spent some time taking photos of the waves – they are very strong at Ward Beach and much caution needs to be exercised when hunting for stones at the waves’ edge.

Now to the 13 featured finds from today. This stone has some very interesting  veins, maybe chalcedony?   

This second find is likely to have at least some flint in it:        

A white brecciated limestone:

Another limestone pebble, this time with a little more colour:    

A third limestone find, with subtle but intriguing patterns: 

There’s an interesting brown in this next stone – it appears to have quartz in it:     

A dark red jasper(?) with a small grey circular feature that draws the eye:     

The dark veins in this next stone tend to stand out:     

Next are four trace fossil limestone finds, all with a different character. This grey one has an unusual trace fossil pattern  – two traces that meet to form a pointer, or a flight of geese:  

In a darker grey, these two trace fossils cross over each other:    

An assemblage of different kinds of trace fossils:    

A set of parallel trace fossils that have been “smeared”along one side:   

Finally, a limestone pebble that on one side has holes probably from some small burrowing animal:

Both sides have interesting markings.

The next day I caught a Cook Strait ferry from Picton and arrived home in Whanganui just after dark.

An Index to this Series of Posts is available here. 

Apologies to those following this Series for the late publication of this Post. When I got home from my trip, I had a bad cold which took a few days to ease. Then I spent over a week working through a reviewer’s detailed comments on a draft of the book on Gemstone Beach stones that Chrissy and I are preparing.

I arrived at Ward Beach in Southern Marlborough at 2.40pm. It was only eight degrees, with a cold breeze, though it was sunny. A few people were around. I passed a couple of cyclists on the road out there, and two or three camper vans were parked in the camping area behind the beach. Later a man arrived to gather kelp that had washed up. I walked south to the Flaxbourne River mouth, a distance of 400 metres – the river was too wide and deep to cross. The waves were powerful and ferocious and swept swiftly up the beach (see the fourth and fifth photos below). I made sure I kept well clear of them.

Just prior to a wave sweeping up the beach. Compare next photo.

A wave sweeping up the beach.

Ward Beach from in front of the carpark, looking south.

Ward Beach, looking north.

Powerful and ferocious waves, Ward Beach.

At the Flalbourne River mouth.

The sun was harsh and low, making it difficult to spot details in the stones when walking over them. The following are ten of my finds from today. 

My favourite find today is this small stone with tiny sparkling spots in it which turn out to be very small square crystals of some kind:

I have found at least three of these before, one on my way south a month ago,  another in February 2025, the first in February 2024. I wonder if the crystals might be pyrite, given their cuboid character. 

Two other black stones with white crystals:

There’s a good chance these could be dolerite with feldpar crystals in them.

A stone that reverses the proportion of black and white – a white stone with small black spots in it:

A jasper find:

Other side of jasper stone.

I recently learned that jasper can sometimes be silicified rhyolite. Hot, silica-rich groundwater can move through rhyolitic rock, turning parts of it into microcrystalline quartz. Silicified rhyolite can even give rise to poppy jasper, and is the origin of ocean jasper.

A veined limestone of a type that I always find attractive, though the soft rock needs very careful tumbling:

A limestone with dendrites:

Dendrites are thin lines, often branching, of tiny dark crystals, usually of some variety of manganese oxide, that grow over a rock’s surface – see Mindat.org. Other dendritic specimens I have found on Ward Beach can be seen towards the end of “Selection of Tumbled Ward Beach Stones: Part 3 – Stones With Veins; Stones With Dendrites”.

As usual, I kept a look out for trace fossils in limestime. One I found was in a rough-feeling stone – they are usually very smooth – and the definition of its trace seemed sharper than normal:

Two other trace fossil stones, the first one showing a displacement across it (sometimes called an “earthquake stone”), the second containing some criss-crossing of traces (usually the traces run parallel to each other):

For more on these trace fossils, see “Selection of Tumbled Ward Beach Stones: Part 1 – Trace Fossils in Limestone”.

Ian and Ronnie of the Flaxbourne Motels always show an interest in the stones I find at nearby Ward Beach. I have given them some that I have tumble polished. Ian is very good at making and crafting stuff. Two years ago he set a handful of my polished stones in a couple of wooden table tops:

Today, they showed me how Ian had mounted seven of the stones I had given them in a glass-fronted frame, using identifications I had given to Ronnie the last time I visited:

A really interesting idea, effectively done.

The next Post in this Series covers a second Ward Beach fossick undertaken the next day. An Index to the Series is available here.     

I left home in Whanganui yesterday to catch a Bluebridge Cook Strait ferry in Wellington. The crossing was nice and smoooth, and during it I watched the All Whites World Cup football game against Egypt (the All Whites won the first half but lost the second, and the game). On this trip, I will be visiting favourite South Island beaches but have two other important tasks. Firstly, I will be working with Chrissy on an advanced draft of our book on the stones of Gemstone Beach. Secondly, I will be taking part in the Open Day of the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club in Invercargill on 11 July.

My first stop, as always, is Ward in Marlborough, checking into Ian and Ronnie’s Flaxbourne Motels for two nights. Unfortunately I just missed Lee and Shona, who I had previously met in March 2023 and again in March 2025 – they are going south to do some house-sitting in Canterbury. Today I visited Ward Beach for an hour at high tide, during a cool sunny afternoon with a stiff wind blowing. I walked south to the mouth of the Flaxbourne River and back, collecting 21 stones. I worked hard at not picking up too many as I am on my way south and they will be travelling all of the way with me. 

Ward Beach, looking south-west from the carpark.

The sea has eaten into the stone beach, leaving a steep drop in places. Looking north.

Ward Beach stones today – lots of good sized ones on the surface.

Ward Beach stones, wet from the waves.

Today’s collected 21.

 I visited at high tide because the larger stones, most suitable for tumble polishing, tend to be found (wet) at the high tide mark. Today there were lots of such stones there, more than usual it seemed, though the strong waves sweeping up the gravel meant I had to take care during the fossick. I didn’t want to get caught by a wave half way down the bank – and I didn’t.

Six of today’s finds are featured below. The first is the largest trace fossil (in limestone) I have seen on Ward Beach:    

Trace fossil in limestone.

The second is a small white stone (again limestone?) with dendrites, thin, branching lines of crystals, often of some variety of manganese oxide (or iron), that grow over a surface in a rock or mineral:     

Dendritic stone.

Four other examples of Ward Beach dendritic stones can be found here.

My third featured find is one I find fascinating, having collected a couple on previous fossicks (e.g., in February 2025) – the tiny white crystals in it are hardly discernable to the naked eye:    

Tiny white crystals.

I also found the following type of brecciated stone to be fascinating – it may be limestone. Brecciation refers to the fragmentation and re-cementing of a stone, often with something like quartz or chalcedony in the gaps:    

Brecciated limestone?

There’s an explanation of breccia at the start of this Post (in the discussion of Stone #6).

I collected the fifth featured stone because of the two different textures in it, arising from the different sizes of its black crystals – I find such a contrast to be interesting: 

I suspect the final stone is quartz with iron oxide colouring it. However it caught my eye because the colour seems muted:

I continue south tomorrow morning. My next fossick will be at Kakanui in North Otago. An Index to this Series of Posts can be found here. 

I have a booking on a Cook Strait ferry for tomorrow but the ship has been out of action for a couple of weeks. It was supposed to have started sailing yesterday but cancelled again. Today it looks like it is due to start up again and, if so, I should be lucky tomorrow. I had managed to book an alternative with another ferry company for Sunday and the Flaxbourne Motel owners at Ward, Ronnie and Ian, have very kindly made allowances for me to stay until then if need be. So today’s trip to Ward Beach may be my last fossick for this trip, or it may not.

I arrived at Ward Beach at 12.30 pm at low tide. It was sunny, 18 degrees, with only a light breeze. More than a dozen camper vans and cars were there. However, during the nearly two hours I was there, no one else was on the beach in front of the carpark or to the south, just over the Flaxbourne River, where I walked.

Looking south from in front of the Ward Beach carpark.

Looking notth from in front of the Ward Beach carpark.

At low tides, these rocks to the south are exposed.

The Flaxbourne River flows as a shallow stream here (top right). The mouth is a great fossicking area.

Looking back towards the carpark and camping area.

It was a typical Ward Beach fossick though I was surprised not to spot more trace fossil limestone pebbles. This Series of Posts features the kind of stones I have found most often on this beach. Here are 15 of my finds from this afternoon.

This first one is my favourite – a small stone but with really interesting features and colours:

Samll but busy colourful find.

Other side of stone.

Occasional jaspers can be found on Ward Beach. Many are plain and uninteresting to me, but now and again a fascinating one appears:

This jasper has a bright white vein which may be chalcedony (agate):

Jasper with white vein.

I keep a look out for limestone stones with white veins, and found these three:

This one has dendrites in it (see the second half of this Post for other Ward Beach examples):

Limestone with dendrites.

Other side of stone.

I also look for brecciated limetone (complex veins) and sometimes these might have some flint in them (the clearer brown patches in this case):

Brecciated limestone? Plus some flint?

Other side of stone.

More examples of this can be seen in this Post.

Some limestone along this coast can be yellow and/or blue. This one appears to be brecciated, has a thin black vein and an intriguing white feature:

A dark red stone that I initially thought could be a jasper but I think it is probably some kind of igneous stone – the tiny crystals and patches of mineral in it are interesting:

Igneous stone?

Other side of stone.

Another igneous stone, a type quite common on New Zealand beaches, probably a porphyritic basalt with plagioclase feldspar phenocrysts – the different crystal shapes always fascinate me:

This stone is predominantly light in colour (probably quartz) with black crystals:

Finally, three specimens of trace fossils in limestone:

That night, I met up with Katinka, Guy and their daughter, all keen rockhounds and occasional readers of this blog. They were staying two doors along from me at the motel. On my way to catch the ferry the next day, I stopped off briefly at Ward Beach again and was soon joined by them for about 20 minutes. The tide was not good for finding wet stones however and little eventuated from that fossick. I made it safely home to Whanganui that night.

The Index to this Series can be found here.

I crossed Cook Strait on Monday by ferry, having a comfortable sailing. I then stayed two nights in Ward, Southern Marlborough, at the Flaxbourne Motels, warmly hosted by Ronnie and Ian. On Tuesday, I visited Ward Beach twice. The first visit was for an hour in the morning, collecting 25 stones – the tide was coming in and one extra large wave rushed far enough up the beach to get the back of my jeans wet. My second visit, in dry jeans, was for 90 minutes in the afternoon, collecting 23 stones, the outgoing tide proving less difficult to negotiate. The morning fossick was on the beach in front of the carpark, the afternoon involved a walk south, crossing the Flaxbourne River and going about 800 metres further before turning back. The day’s weather was cool, around 13 to 14 degrees, cloudy in the morning but some sunshine appearing in the afternoon, enough for me to take photos of my finds once I got back to the motel.

On the beach in front of the carpark, the sea had moved away some of the stones so that there was a drop down towards the waves. Some seaweed had also been deposited there.

Looking back towards the carpark and camping area, from the south.

Looking north from the carpark.

Looking south from the carpark.

Another south-looking view.

The Flaxbourne River mouth consisted of a narrow and shallow stream, squeezed between rocks and gravel, easily forded. This area is featured in a GeoTrip “Uplift at Ward Beach”. The beach south of there for about 700 metres does not have many rounded stones. It’s an area dominated by large rocks, some smooth, many jagged. It includes parts of a few Ward Beach boulders, though the main group of boulders is further north – see Geotrip “Ward Beach Boulders”. Also further north are the Chancet Rocks, a jagged outcrop of limestone strata – see Geotrip “Chancet Rocks Reserve”. This is a scientific reserve beause a vein within the Rocks represents the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. This boundary marks the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs caused by a devastating asteroid impact in Mexico. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (“NZ Geographic” Jan-Feb 2022) is an article by Warren Judd on the K-Pg boundary in North Canterbury/Southern Marlborough. I walked past a number of smaller jagged limestone outcrops on my walk south, photos of four included below.

Flaxbourne River mouth.

A smooth rounded rock area.

Part of a Ward Beach boulder.

Some colour variation.

Texture.

Jagged limestone outcrop. Chancet Rocks in distant background.

More limestone strata breaking through the sand.

My backpack for scale.

I turned around shortly after this.

Some of the stones on the beach in situ, and my 48 finds:

Ward Beach stones.

My Ward Beach collection today.

A series of five Posts on tumbled Ward Beach stones shows the types of stones I look for here. Foremost are limestone pebbles with trace fossils, and there are always quite a few of them on the beach. Among the ones I collected on Tuesday were these four:

Nice large traces.

A mix of types of traces.

Limestone pebbles can come in a range of colours on Ward Beach, not just grey. This one is mainly blue with small areas of lemon yellow plus some brown rusty patches:

Colourful limestone pebble.

Other colours I came across:

Pink!

Cream.

Brown (with trace fossils).

A wavy limestone pebble:

I kept an eye open for stones that had veins and/or a mix of hard (often fint) and soft (mainly limestone) material, but didn’t find many. This one was the best:

A couple of tiny jasper(?) stones, with interesting patterns – the first is the size of my thumbnail, the second as tiny as my small fingernail:

Maybe some agate in with the jasper.

Jasper and agate veins?

Finally, I found three similar igneous stones with interesting crystals in them. This is the biggest:

One side of igneous stone with interesting crystals.

Other side of stone.

Next planned fossick is at Timaru South beach with Sascha in a couple of days – see here. An Index to this Series is here.

This is my third contribution to the current Alphabetical Series in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. In the 2021 version of this Series I posted “C is for (Fossil) Coral”. 

“C is for Calcite (Calcium Carbonate) in a Ward Beach fossil oyster stone”

I found this stone in early October 2024. It’s not the type I normally collect – I like nice smooth stones that are colourful or have interesting patterns. What caught my eye with this (very rough and un-colourful) stone were patches of tiny elongated features. I wondered if they were crystals or maybe fossils like sponge spicules. A month later, John Taylor, a rockhound and fossil enthusiast who lives in Scotland, visited me and I brought out the stone to show him. John looked closely at it under a magnifying glass and with a blacklight torch. The latter revealed some calcite present. Calcite will fizz when dilute hydrochloric acid is placed on it, but we didn’t do that test. John thought the stone was most likely a shell fossil, probably of an oyster of some kind. The long thin features that had caught my eye are maybe part of the shell material remaining after some erosion. Calcite is found in many shells and during the process of fossilisation is often replaced with silica. In this case, perhaps a little calcite remained. Calcite is the only common non-silicate rock-forming mineral, and is a significant component of limestone – see University of Auckland Geology.

The next entry is “D is for Diopside (with Chromium)”. An Index for this Alphabetical Series is here.